


Demons behind the red bars

by stormy1990



Series: YOSHIWARA [1]
Category: Johnny's Entertainment, Johnny's Jr., KAT-TUN (Band), KinKi Kids, Kis-My-Ft2 (Band), Love-tune, NewS (Band), Sexy Zone, SixTONES (Band), Snow Man (Japan Band), Travis Japan
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Character Death, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2019-11-08 10:13:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 14
Words: 70,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17979395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stormy1990/pseuds/stormy1990
Summary: Yoshiwara, the first officially approved red-light district in Edo under the Tokugawa shogunate. An entertainment district for those who come to visit, for those who were working there it was a completely different world. Looking through the red bars from the street people were finding their partners for a brief time in one of the houses, others sought for deeper feelings and then there were those which were on the hunt, finding their victims trapped in a cage they couldn’t escape from.Taiga found himself trapped exactly in that cage, looking outside on the street through the bars all he saw were demons looking at him, searching for ways to break all those which cowered in the red light, trying to run away from the cruel world they had been thrown into.But what if a little bit of trust could change everything he had heard about this district? Taiga’s life had taught him that bad people existed everywhere, but if he could for once succeed and put his trust in someone he might be able to find a place to stay this time. After all Yoshiwara was his final destination, if he dared to run it would be his death!





	1. Meet the Demons

**Author's Note:**

> This is in no way a historical correct story! Just bc I use some real events and names pls don’t think of this in any way of historical correct, it’s COMPLETE fiction! I just used the Edo Period and Yoshiwara as the pillar of the story and while some things are researched, others are complete fiction!  
> I wasn’t sure how many Japanese words I should use and how many of them I should actually explain so there will be a few (*) when I think ppl might not know a word, pls let me know if there are other words you would like explanations for I can still add them later!  
> For now I hope you have fun reading!  
> Pls excuse all the plot holes, grammar and spelling mistakes.

 

Taiga could have tried to run the moment they took him away from his family, but where was he supposed to go? He had been just 12 years old at that time and no one would have bothered with him or given him shelter. Years he had been forced to do the lowest work for different people. He had been reached around like a slave and now that he was slowly turning into an adult he hoped to be able to find his own way, but he was still too naive for that. One time he had asked to be allowed to leave and find a job and live a normal life, when that had been denied he ran away, but got caught and punished. After his punishment there was again someone new picking him up to bring him to a new place, but when Taiga realized where they were going he tried to get away. In the end he got punished again and each time the scars on his back got more. But this time it wouldn’t just be scars. This place was a final destination and there was just life or death.

He was standing in front of one of the red houses in the Yoshiwara district, two people holding on to him so that he couldn't run away.

Women and men were passing them, all of them laughing, being drunk and shamelessly touching on the street. Taiga closed his eyes with a shiver. This was definitely the worst place he had been brought to so far.

It was evening already and while he could see women sitting behind the red bars of all the other houses, their make-up seeming like the one of a demon with the red lights surrounding them, their house was different. It were boys sitting in the space in the window and in front of them women as well as men looked at them in fascination, all their dirty thoughts visible in those lustful and greedy eyes.

“Oh, a newbie?”

Taiga looked back to the entrance where a man had appeared. He was wearing a light grey kimono which wasn't properly closed and revealed his chest and partly his shoulder. He held a small black fan in his hand and approached Taiga with slow steps. His look was almost burning him down and he would have loved to make a step back, but he wasn't allowed to. He flinched when the other one put the fan under his chin to lift up his head. Taiga moved his head with a warning growl on which the other one lifted an eyebrow before he formed a lopsided smile.

“Interesting, I like you already. Bring him inside, I'll call the owner.”

Some boys crossed their way while they brought Taiga inside and they all seemed to want to know who the newbie was. Some seemed just interested in finding out more about him, others seemed to have other intentions.

“Thank you for bringing him in, you can leave him to us now,” a boy said as they pushed Taiga in a room with nothing more but a table in the middle and an extremely expensive looking floor chair behind it with a red silk cover. The men left Taiga with the boy alone and closed the door.

“You can sit down,” the boy said with a movement towards the pillow which was placed in front of the table. The boy sat down on the tatami ground next to the table and looked at Taiga with scanning eyes. The kimono he was wearing was colorful with a few small pink and violet lines on it, but still not too bright to be annoying to the eye and he had it closed up to his neck completely, looking more like a person from a tea house than a bordel.

“First time for you in Yoshiwara?”

Taiga just nodded nervously on which the boy let out a chuckle and moved a bit closer on which Taiga tensed.

“Okay for starters, just because this is a Yoshiwara, you don't have to fear that everyone here just thinks about sex, not all of the time at least.”

That didn't help Taiga to calm down, because he had seen the boys’ looks and they weren't even customers.

“You don't really want to be here, do you?”

Taiga didn't even dare to shake his head, afraid of receiving a punishment for it.

“By the way my name is Kentaro, would you mind telling me yours?”

“Taiga…”

His shy tone made the other one chuckle, but Taiga didn't feel annoyed by it. Actually since he'd arrived, Kentaro was the only person he didn't feel like some kind of prey to while getting looked at. “Nice to meet you, Taiga.”

Again just a nod, but Kentaro didn't seem to mind.

“The one you met at the entrance is Taisuke. He is one of the senpais of our house. I know he can look really scary and to be honest you should make sure not to end up alone in a room with him for now.”

That wasn't how Taiga had thought the second half of the sentence would end and he looked at Kentaro with wide eyes.

“I know you thought I'd tell you he is nicer than he looks, right? Let's say he can be nice as well, but never without a purpose.”

Before Taiga could think about it too much the door opened again. It took Taiga some time to realize that he kept staring at the person the whole way until he sat down on the chair behind the table, crossing his legs. His kimono had several layers and the upper one was red with a golden phoenix on it. The way he moved through the room had almost hypnotized Taiga without him noticing. The man in front of him had the same long hair as Taiga, while Kentaro and most other boys had it a bit shorter and there was a golden pin holding up the hair in the back of his neck. He was playing with a black cigarette holder in his right hand and just when he suddenly blew some steam into his face Taiga finally snapped out of it and lowered his head with a small cough on which Kentaro escaped a small chuckle.

“Thank you Kentaro,” was all the other person said before the boy turned towards him and bowed before he got up and left the room. Taiga stared almost panicked after him, but then the other one tapped the cigarette holder on the table on which he turned back.

“Don't worry I won't eat you.”

There was not the slightest hint of a smile on the other one's face while saying that and he kept scanning Taiga on which the boy lowered his eyes on the table, feeling extremely uncomfortable out of a sudden.

“Do you know who I am?”

“The owner of this place?” Taiga whispered and then he gasped when luckily the end without the cigarette landed under his chin and forced him to look up.

“If you know that show me some respect. Look at me when I speak and answer clearly when I ask you something.”

Taiga wanted to nod, but when the other ones look darkened he straightened his back a bit.

“Yes, sir.”

“In here it's not sir. You can call me by my name, Kamenashi. But you've to make sure to learn all our rules if you don't want to end up in trouble right from the beginning. Kentaro will help you remembering them later, but for now let me tell you the most important one.” Kamenashi leaned back on the chair and rested his chin on one palm while he faced Taiga with an intense stare and this time Taiga didn't dare to look away.

“If you run away you are dead!”

It wasn’t actually a rule that scared Taiga, because he knew that the rules in Yoshiwara were strict. Not everyone was forced to be here of course, but if looked close enough a lot of them had their own cruel story which made them end up in this kind of environment.

“No punishment, no warning, no second chance. Did I make that clear?”

“Yes,” Taiga replied in a neutral voice while facing the owner. It seemed like Kamenashi was surprised by his calm reply and suddenly his look changed to a more excited one.

“Good, then I guess the other rules can be explained by Kentaro later. For now let me see what kind of material they brought me this time.”

When Kamenashi stood up and walked around the table Taiga looked up at him kind of lost until Kamenashi waved his hands upwards.

“Stand up.”

Taiga did as he was told and stood in front of the owner who examined him carefully with his eyes. He had put the cigarette on the table and stretched out both hands to touch Taiga’s face and the boy stood still even though he couldn’t deny that he felt a bit uncomfortable.

“Such a soft and pale skin, the customers will like that.”

A compliment which actually made Taiga feel even more uneasy. Just thinking about all the people which were looking at the boys from the street earlier made him shiver. They didn’t even care how obvious their dirty and not always harmless intentions were and unfortunately the business itself also didn’t always care about the boys’ safety.

“Let me see the rest of your body.”

It happened automatically that Taiga stepped back when Kamenashi’s hands traveled to the opening of his jinbei*₁. His clothes were the usual work clothes with loose pants down to the knees and the shirt which got closed without any obi*₂. Never in his life had he even been close to expensive clothes like the kimonos they were wearing here.

“There is no reason for you to get scared,” Kamenashi said calmly. “You won’t have to start working right away and I am not a customer, but as much as you are workers you are also goods, material which we have to keep as beautiful as possible to please the eye of the customer.”

As much as Taiga was actually disgusted by that type of thinking he couldn’t actually make a ruckus on his first day. Kamenashi had made it clear he couldn’t leave or he would die. They would definitely always watch him and if he kept refusing even easy tasks like this he would definitely get punished soon.

Instead of stepping forward again Taiga removed his shirt on his own and took a deep breath before he removed the rest of his clothes as well. This time he couldn’t look up at Kamenashi as the latter started circling around him with a scanning look and when the latter’s hands landed on his back he flinched.

“Seems like you are the disobedient type,” Kamenashi said as he traced the scars with a gentle touch which made Taiga arch his back.

It got more unpleasant for him when Kamenashi moved his hands lower until they touched his hips. With a hum he moved to the front again, tracing the boy’s skin until he reached his belly.

“The scars are actually not as bad for the business as you might think. A lot of the boys have similar scars from punishments or also from customers.”

Again something Taiga didn’t want to hear, but what else did he expect?

“So tell me, are you still a virgin?”

The reason why Taiga hesitated with the answer was because he knew what his answer would mean and it made him feel nauseous out of a sudden. He had heard rumors about how boys were treated when they were still untouched. They were looked at as something sacred, getting displayed to the public like an animal in a cage for the spectators to form all their dirty thoughts about them before they’d get sold. Sold to someone who was the first and only person who could own them for one night. No rules, no boundaries. It was the scariest part of being at Yoshiwara and it made him unable to voice out an answer for several minutes until Kamenashi put his pointer finger under his chin to make him look up.

“I warn you, don’t even try to lie to me. I’ll hand you to Taisuke immediately if I’ve the feeling you lie and trust me he will find out the truth in barely minutes and it won’t be pleasant.”

Silence followed on that statement again and finally Taiga dared to take another deep breath before he looked directly back at the owner.

“Yes.”

One single word and it brought a wide smile on Kamenashi’s face before he removed his hand and stepped back.

“Great, then get dressed again. Kentaro will be in charge of you from now on. He is your senpai so treat him with respect and the same applies for the other senpais and boys.” Kamenashi opened the door as Taiga was dressed again and told a boy on the corridor which seemed to have been sitting out there the whole time waiting for instructions, to get Kentaro. The boy was about the same age as Taiga, but he wore a jinbei in dark grey  so maybe he was in charge of giving information around the building and guiding customers in and out.

“But that doesn’t mean that you have no right to defend yourself if something happens,” Kamenashi added before he stepped out to the hallways, obviously about to leave. Taiga understood what that meant, after all Kentaro had told him before already to not stay alone with Taisuke and he was sure he wasn’t the only one he had to be careful of. “Better make sure to stay with Kentaro for the first days or find a few friends among the boys which you can trust. They are no monsters you know? Allow yourself to find a new place to live here instead of seeing yourself as a prisoner.”

That wasn't actually easy for someone who had been treated like one for half his life, but Kamenashi seemed to know that. He still gave the boy an encouraging look before he left.

So for Taiga a new battle had begun and he couldn't deny that he didn't feel ready at all, but even though he went through so much hardship already he was still far away from the point which would make him give up. For now he could do nothing else, but somehow get used to his new environment and hopefully find some company which would help him if he actually ended up in some mess, which he eventually would, judging by his bad luck.

***

“I will give you a headache if I explain all rules today, so let's just stuck to the important ones,” Kentaro started as they walked down a corridor towards the back of the house. The part Taiga had seen so far seemed for the customers, with rooms on both floors in which they would spend their time with the boys. But after Kentaro had led him through a door in the back the environment changed and the luxurious red colored wood of the doors and windows got replaced by the usual brown one.

“This is the private part of the house, no customers are allowed here. The rooms for the boys are upstairs, but before I show you your room you'll have to take a bath.”

The next door Kentaro opened showed a bath which could already be called a private onsen*₃. It had several wash places and a spacious bath which was surrounded by a natural stone wall.

“Nice, isn't it?” Kentaro asked as he let Taiga enter first and the boy could just nod. At least their private quarters didn't seem bad at all, at least if their rooms were the same as the bath.

“When you've work you have to be in the front of the house, but on your days off you can be either here or also walk around town.”

It surprised Taiga to hear that he was allowed to go outside, but Kentaro already gave him a knowing look.

“I'm sure Kamenashi warned you about what will happen if you run and trust me those who tried while they were in town never got away.”

It gave Taiga and unpleasant shiver, because even if it was a lie to scare others to not run, it actually made him refrain from trying.

“So I guess even if I leave you alone for a few minutes I can be sure to find you in here when I come back, right?”

Did the boy trust him that much already or was it a test? Whichever it was Taiga nodded and Kentaro excused himself for a while, telling Taiga to take his time and that he would come to pick him up later.

Taiga couldn't deny that he was grateful for the opportunity to get clean again, after all the people he was with before didn't even give him a proper place to sleep or enough food. Taking his time he washed the dirt of his skin, trying to be careful with the fresh scars on his back, but when he got into the bath the hot water was like the best medicine he could get for his back.

With a sigh he let his head drop on the stones behind him and he closed his eyes for a moment. He couldn't deny that he was afraid of what was awaiting him, but meeting Kentaro he had the feeling he could maybe somehow get through this. After all the boy seemed totally okay with being a part of Yoshiwara, not that he could tell what kind of life he had before and what brought him here.

Not wanting to freak himself out with the thoughts about how his life would change from now on he took a deep breath and vanished under water for a moment. When he came back to the surface he flinched when the door to the bath got opened at the exact same moment, revealing two boys which were chatting and hadn't noticed him at first.

“To be honest I'd like those kinds of customers to be handled by Taisuke instead,” one of them let out while he started undressing. He was quite tall with short hair and his kimono was blue with a few white lines, making it look like water was flowing on it.

“Or give him to Hokuto, I know he wouldn't mind,” the other one added as he turned to the shelf and opened his half red half blue kimono with a dark blue obi. “And also- oh, we got company.”

The boy had spotted Taiga the moment he turned around again and let the kimono slide from his shoulders. Taiga looked away immediately, but didn't dare to get out the bath, after all he had been told to wait.

‘A newbie,” the taller one let out in pure excitement before he tossed his clothes in the shelf and almost skipped over to the bath.

“Reo I warn you, don't you dare enter that bath without washing yourself. You just told me what that customer did with you and I don't want you in that water like that and the newbie doesn't want that either, right?”

When Taiga realized that the boy had asked him directly he just nodded.

“Look! So wash yourself!”

“Yes mum,” Reo pouted on which the other boy also went over to the wash place.

“You know that the only mum here is Kentaro. Oh by the way newbie what's your name?”

“Taiga,” he replied in a neutral voice, still a bit confused about the two boys showing up.

“I like that name, it sounds cute,” Reo replied teasingly on which the other boy threw a washing towel at him.

“You will scare him if you keep talking like that,” he scolded Reo before facing Taiga who hadn't moved from the spot at all and kept looking at the two boys while trying to find out if he was in trouble or not.

“Don't mind him, Reo can get easily excited, but he is a good guy, even though he might start touching you at night and pretend later that he was sleepwalking.”

“You're still complaining about the one time that happened?”

“Anyways,” the other one continued as he got up and entered the bath on which Taiga eyed him carefully, especially as the boy moved over to him right away and came a bit too close for Taiga’s liking, but he didn't seem of the dangerous type, even though Taiga wasn't sure how easily he could actually tell who was and who wasn't dangerous.

“So Taiga, welcome to Yoshiwara. I'm Juri.”

“And as much as I got scolded before, you know my name already,” Reo added as he also entered the bath and moved on Taiga's other side so that he felt kind of trapped between them.

It was when Juri wanted to lift one hand to his face that Taiga slightly flinched, but he was still calm enough to not push both away and dash out the bath.

“Mh, the shy type I see,” was all Juri said before he sat back a bit on which Taiga relaxed.

“Don't worry we won't bite. Did you meet anyone else already?” Reo asked almost soothing.

“The owner,” Taiga started in a low voice. “Kentaro and Taisuke.”

“Uh, you met the worst company right from the start. Stay away from Taisuke!”

Juri’s words were more direct than Kentaro’s were and it made clear that Taiga should definitely remember their advice.

“Taisuke can be nice as well and extremely convincing, but-”

“Never without a purpose,” Taiga ended Reo’s sentence and the boy formed a lopsided smile.

“A quick learner. That will help you a lot. I can always give you some advice if you are troubled though,” Reo let out while he sneaked a bit closer again.

“If you touch him Kamenashi will cut your hands off immediately,” Kentaro was suddenly heard when he entered the bath, carrying a towel and a white yukata.

“Oh an untouched one,” Reo let out in fascination, but backed off on Kentaro’s warning.

“Taiga, come here. You'll have enough time to get to know those idiots better. They are your new roommates.

“ Wuhu~ we get the newbie,” Reo let out enthusiastic before he exchanged a high five with Juri.

Taiga carefully got away between them and got out of the bath. When Kentaro handed him the towel the two boys started struggling in the bath and Reo pushed Juri’s head underwater before the latter pulled his leg away so that he also landed with his head underwater. Taiga looked at them for a brief moment before a chuckle made him turn around again.

“What?”

Kentaro gave him a bright smile in reply on which Taiga’s look turned to confused. “Did I see a brief smile on your face just now?”

On Kentaro’s teasing Taiga looked away and hurried to get dry. Kentaro kept his teasing look, but handed him the white yukata without another word and made him follow him through the house towards a different room.

The room had a tatami floor and a few shelves with kimonos inside. The only other item in the room was a wooden box on the floor.

“Get out of the Yukata,” Kentaro ordered out of a sudden after he had closed the door, but somehow with Kentaro he didn’t mind. After all they all had seen his body and also his scars in the bath before and none of them had made a comment about it.

Taiga did how he was told and watched Kentaro how he opened the box, revealing an extremely expensive looking kimono. It was mostly white, but there was a golden embroidery on it. The pattern looked a bit like the golden parts were flames trying to burn the white Kimono.

“This kimono is exclusive for the untouched boys. It will make everyone look at you, but it will also protect you.”

Kentaro lifted it up and held it out to Taiga who turned around and let Kentaro help him get dressed.

“Usually you’ll get work Kimonos and Yukatas for your free time, but until your ceremony you’ll have to wear this one no matter if you are inside the house or outside.”

“Ceremony,” Taiga repeated in a low voice and when Kentaro stepped in front of him to close the Kimono with the white obi, he looked up at him with a kind of apologizing look.

“I guess you heard the rumors?”

Taiga nodded while Kentaro pulled the Kimono straight. “I’d love to tell you that you don’t have to worry, but I don’t like lying and you should be prepared for what awaits you.”

In silence Kentaro checked everything once more before he stepped back, now with a darker look on his face.

“You experienced it as well,” Taiga concluded on the boy’s behavior and to his surprise Kentaro’s look brightened up a bit again when he looked up at him.

“Yes I did. Years have passed since then, but trust me it’s an experience which will haunt you forever if you are not prepared for it.”

From the first moment he had met Kentaro he had seen a strong young boy and here he already saw a vulnerable part behind that strong front, but it wasn’t something bad. It actually made it easier for Taiga to get closer to him, because a lot of them had their haunting stories which brought them here in the first place.

“Ok come on, let me show you your room. The serious talks can still happen over the next days.”

It didn’t seem to Taiga as if he was running away from this topic, but he was right, Taiga also preferred to not get all the negative things thrown at him at the first day.

They went upstairs and Taiga realized soon that most of the rooms were no private ones.

“As long as you are a newbie you will share your room with other younger boys. Normally just the senpais have private quarters. Taisuke and the other older ones have their rooms at the other side of the corridor. My room is at the end of this one on the left.”

Knowing which parts of the upper floor were safe and which weren’t was helpful information to Taiga and he followed Kentaro to a room towards the end of the corridor where he slid one of the doors open.

“You will share your room with three other boys, you met Juri and Reo already and-”

Taiga tilted his head when Kentaro stopped speaking the moment he entered the room and when he dared to look inside the room he found another boy in it. He was sitting on the windowsill with a book on his lap, but he seemed to have fallen asleep while reading. A round pair of glasses was dangerously low on his nose, definitely about to fall if he moved now.

Kentaro walked inside the room and took the glasses carefully off on which he gained a groan, but the latter didn’t wake up. The windowsill was wide enough to not easily fall off and there were even pillows on it so it seemed quite comfortable, not to forget that they had a nice view towards the garden behind the house. The boy was wearing a dark violet yukata instead of a fancy kimono, which showered that he had definitely a day off.

Kentaro put the glasses on a table at the other side of the room before he waved at Taiga to get to the front of the room to not disturb the other one. They sat down on the tatami floor before Kentaro pointed at the other one.

“So this is your third roommate, his name is Hokuto.”

Taiga took another look over to the latter, but he was still peacefully sleeping and seeing him in one of the normal yukatas he didn’t even seem like a person which would belong to such a place.

“Don’t get fooled by his first impression!” Kentaro warned him in a low voice. “He is not dangerous don’t worry, but he has a quite cold attitude, not just towards newbies, but you’ll get used to that.”

When Kentaro stood up Taiga wanted to follow him, but the latter waved his hand. “For today you should rest. I’ll come tomorrow to pick you up and show you the front of the house and explain a few more rules.”

The other one walked over to the door, but seemed to realize Taiga’s troubled expression which made him turn to him with a brief smile.

“Relax, okay? The more you show everyone how uncomfortable you feel the more they’ll try to approach you. They know they are not allowed to make a move on you, but they like games. Don’t let them play.”

With that he left and Taiga felt completely lost for several minutes in which he didn’t move from the spot. He scanned the room carefully, but there was not much in it. The futons were stored in the cupboard at daytime and the only other furniture was a table at the end of the room. There was a mirror placed on the ground next to it. It was quite tall and slowly Taiga got up and walked with careful steps through the room to not wake the other one up. When he stood in front of the mirror he felt like he wasn’t looking at a reflection, but at a whole different person. His pale skin was almost as white as the kimono itself and he couldn’t deny that the golden pattern made the kimono look extremely special. But that would also make everyone look at him as Kentaro had explained, after all the boys as well as the customers knew the meaning of this kimono.

When Taiga looked to the ground he spotted a few books next to the table and he sat down to take one in his hand. They seemed to have quite difficult topics even though Taiga couldn’t understand them, after all no one had ever taught him how to read.

The second book he took in his hands had a few drawings in it as well and Taiga kept flipping through the pages absentminded until he thought he had felt something moving against his hair. He wanted to look over to the window, maybe a breeze was coming in from there, but when he turned his head he came eye to eye with Hokuto. The latter was sitting right behind him, his face barely centimeters away from his and Taiga squealed and leant backwards so far that he was about to end up flat on the floor, but Hokuto grabbed him by the waist and pulled him up again.

Taiga froze when the other one kept holding on to him and burned him with an intense stare. It seemed as if it took minutes until the other one moved again and he took the book out of Taiga’s hand, which he hadn’t dropped to his own surprise.

“Don’t touch my stuff, newbie.”

With that warning Hokuto finally released him and stood up, putting the book back in place before he walked over to the windowsill again as if nothing had happened. Taiga kept looking at him in pure confusion. But before he could even make sense out of what had just happened he heard loud voices in the corridor and soon Juri and Reo entered the room.

“Oh my god you got your kimono already, let me see,” Reo yelled as he dashed towards Taiga and made him stand up. “It fits you so well. Everyone will just have eyes for you tomorrow.”

“Which is not necessarily a good thing Reo, you know that,” Juri was heard as he took the futons out of the cupboard and it surprised Taiga that Hokuto got up and helped him. The other two boys didn’t seem bothered by Hokuto’s cold attitude and maybe Taiga would get used to it as well, but he would have enough time to talk more to all of the boys after all.

“Ehm, can I ask something?” Taiga let out in a low voice on which Reo smiled at him and nodded. “Kentaro said I’ve to wear this the whole time, even in private, but I hope I am allowed to get out of it at night?”

The question made Juri laugh and after he put down the last futon he walked up to him.

“After you just put it on it’s a shame to actually take it off, but yes you are allowed to take it off at night.”

“Here, this is yours,” Reo said as he threw a light yukata for the night at Taiga.

Hokuto had obviously already been in his night yukata as he walked up to the futon close to the door which made Taiga look at the remaining futons.

“You want to choose who you want to sleep next to?” Juri asked while both boys stood next to the futons. They had changed into their yukatas right after the bath already and waited patiently for Taiga to give them an answer.

Taiga needed some more time to realize that they were actually serious about letting him decide and to his own surprise it wasn’t hard for him to choose at all and he stretched out his hand, pointing at Juri.

While Juri just smiled, Reo let out a disappointed sigh and pouted before he dropped on the futon next to Hokuto.

“I told you, you’d scare him,” Juri scolded him as he sat down next to him and hit him with his pillow.

Taiga slowly moved over to the futon next to Juri and sat down, still observing the others. Hokuto had already turned away from them, while Reo and Juri were struggling over the pillow until Juri pulled too hard and when it slipped out of Reo’s hand Juri threw it to the back through the lost force on one side and it landed on Taiga’s face.

“Whups,” Juri let out while trying hard to keep from laughing, while Reo burst out laughing right away, but when the pillow landed on his face this time his expression turned to completely confused making Juri laugh as well.

Taiga had to smile himself after he had successfully aimed for the other one’s face, but his smile faded slowly and got replaced by an embarrassed expression when Juri turned to him with a bright smile.

“I already like you! You fit quite well in this room,” he said while clapping Taiga on the shoulder before he went back to scolding Reo and stopped him from actually throwing the pillow back at Taiga.

While watching them Taiga felt how he finally calmed down a bit more and he couldn’t deny that he was happy to have some boys around him which seemed good company, weird indeed, but definitely not dangerous and that was what mattered to him for now.

 

+++

*₁ jinbei: traditional Japanese clothing with short pants and short-sleeved top  
*₂ obi: traditional Japanese belt to close yukatas, kimonos, etc  
*₃ onsen: Japanese bath with water from a natural spring


	2. Testing the waters

The next morning Taiga woke up in a quite uncomfortable position and when he tried to turn around he found out why. Juri’s leg was stretched out against his back and had pushed him half off the futon. Carefully he moved away from the latter and sat up, realizing that Hokuto’s futon was already in the cupboard while Reo and Juri were still sleeping.

Before Taiga could decide if he wanted to go back to sleep or not the door got carefully slid open and Kentaro came inside.

This time he was wearing a different kimono and Taiga couldn’t from thinking how good it looked on him even though the pattern showed pink flowers which was clearly unusual even for such an environment.

“I see you tried to go with the safe choice for the night and ended up being kicked out of bed, am I right?” Kentaro asked with a chuckle.

“Is he usually doing that?” Taiga asked in a low voice to not wake the others up.

“Sometimes he kicks, but you could also wake up as his personal teddy bear, don’t worry he is really doing those things without any intention.”

Juri was clearly the one Taiga worried about the least at the moment anyway.

“Those two have off today, so come on let me help you dress and then we go to the front of the house.”

“Does Hokuto have work today?” Taiga asked on which Kentaro nodded before he helped Taiga in his Kimono. It wasn’t like he couldn’t close it himself, but somehow it felt nice to have someone around who guided him for the first days.

“I bet you think we just have work in the evening, but actually our business starts early in the morning and all houses close at nine in the evening. The police control the area quite strictly.”

It made perfect sense now that Kentaro explained it, but as so many others, Taiga had thought they were an exclusive night business.

“Okay, let’s go.”

Taiga followed him back to the front of the house and to his surprise it was already loud inside, a few customers already leaving again. It didn’t take them more than a few steps along the corridor for people to turn to them and when Taiga realized that they were all staring at him he felt more and more uncomfortable.

“Don’t let them scare you. They know that Kimono and that makes you so interesting. Even if they talk to you or stop you in the corridor just be friendly, okay? They know that they are not allowed to touch you, but there are potential people for the ceremony here as well, so better make a good first impression then you might get a good buyer.”

“A buyer,” Taiga repeated in a low voice, his own words giving him shivers. He was used to getting treated like a slave, but getting looked at as some kind of price, an object, barely more than something they want to possess for a night was something completely different.

They wanted to pass around another corner when there was suddenly shouting heard behind them. When Taiga looked back he saw the boy from yesterday. He was at the entrance and the customers which had just entered were obviously causing uproar and while he kept bowing to them and apologized they just pushed him around the whole time, which actually made Taiga extremely angry, but before he could make s step forward Kentaro had passed him.

“Wait here, I’ll be back in a moment.”

Taiga kept looking at them while Kentaro stepped in front of the other boy and spoke with the customers and out of a sudden Taiga felt like there was a complete different person standing over there. His calm and friendly attitude had changed into something wilder, even a small movement of his arm as he touched one of the customers’ shoulders seemed way too voluptuous to be even allowed outside a private room. There was so much confidence in his look that Taiga felt impressed how easily he calmed the situation down. While he kept talking to the customers he pushed the other boy slightly behind him, making sure that he wouldn’t become their target again. When he waved his hand and obviously wanted to guide them into the house, Taiga’s look darkened on the men’s attitude, because not just the looks they gave Kentaro were already more than disrespectful, but also the way one of them had walked up to him and suddenly started touching him while they walked down the corridor.

“As soon as people walk in here they forget all their manners, after all they think we are not more than an object they can use and throw away after that.”

Taiga turned towards the stairs next to the corner they wanted to pass and spotted Taisuke. The man’s kimono looked as if it didn’t get treated carefully, because even though Taisuke had closed it completely this time the material was slightly ripped at some parts which showed that his last customer was definitely not of the careful type, not that Taisuke seemed to mind.

When Taisuke reached the last step of the stairs Taiga wanted to make way, but suddenly Taisuke stepped in his way and trapped him in the corner.

“So you were an untouched one, what a surprise. With your attitude I thought someone would have already gotten the chance to do you.”

While Taiga was normally the restrained type and got silent and shy when people came too close it was different with Taisuke and he gave the older one a judging look.

“What? Shall I apologize that I see a really good slut in you?”

“Maybe you should just stay away from me in the first place?” Taiga shot back on which the latter put his arm to the wall right next to the other one’s head and leant closer.

“You know this kimono might make you feel invincible for now, but remember that there will be the time when you are becoming fair game to all of us.”

That actually made Taiga gulp nervously, but even knowing that, he wouldn’t just let his senpai treat him this low, after all he was just longer in this business nothing more, it didn’t give him the right to treat the younger boys the way the customers were treating them all.

It obviously took Taisuke by surprise when Taiga also leant forward and put one hand on his chest while tilting his head.

“But that time still hasn’t come, so I fear you’ve to step out of my way now, senpai.”

Taiga pronounced the end of the sentence extra mockingly on which Taisuke’s look darkened to a dangerous degree, especially when Taiga dared to push him back and wanted to move away from him.

For a brief moment Taiga felt kind of proud that he hadn’t let himself get cornered, but that feeling lasted just for a second, because he hadn’t thought of the possibility that Taisuke could easily snap. With the next move Taisuke swirled around and grabbed Taiga by the arm, pulling him back. When Taiga turned around with wide eyes the latter had already raised his arm, ready to slap him. Taiga closed his eyes, but when the impact wasn’t coming he dared to open them again.

Hokuto had appeared around the corner and was holding on to Taisuke’s wrist.

“Hands off,” Taisuke growled at him, but Hokuto didn’t seem the slightest scared.

“That’s my line. You touch him and I’ll make sure Kamenashi will cut your hands off.”

A clear warning and it was obvious that Taisuke wasn’t the slightest amused by the fact that one of the younger boys was actually giving him orders. Luckily Taisuke let go of Taiga the next moment on which Hokuto also released Taisuke’s arm.

Taiga was sure that Taisuke would at least threaten Hokuto, because he had dared to talk impolitely to him, but all that happened was a death glare exchange between them before Taisuke vanished around the next corner.

“If you feel like testing your luck and challenge senpais then you’ve to be strong enough to do so until the end. Now he knows that he can scare you after all, so be careful.”

Taiga could just nod while he automatically scanned Hokuto’s clothes. He looked completely different from the evening before. His kimono was black with some white lines which almost looked like lightning, closed by a silver obi.

“Hey, what’s going on,” Kentaro interrupted them as he walked up to them, followed by the boy from before.

“Our untouched one tries already to test his limits,” Hokuto replied before he walked up the stairs without another explanation.

“What does that mean?” Kentaro asked with a raised eyebrow on which Taiga gave him a kind of guilty look.

“Guys, I am sorry to interrupt, but you are kind of in the way,” the boy was heard behind them when other customers were entering and obviously moving towards their direction.

“Right, sorry. By the way Taiga, this is Yugo he is in charge of this house.”

“Not the best way to say it. I am not like the owner, I am more like someone who keeps an eye on everyone and everything, so if anything is up don’t hesitate to ask me,” Yugo said while facing Taiga with a bright smile on which he bowed lightly towards him with a thankful expression.

“Ok, so you can talk later, let’s not get in Yugo’s way for now, because trust me he can get seriously scary.”

Something Taiga couldn’t really imagine, especially because the boy pouted on that before he moved back to the entrance to welcome the next customers.

Kentaro guided Taiga into one of the free rooms and told him to sit down next to the door while Kentaro stopped in the middle of the room.

“So let’s start with the easy stuff. I know you won’t need all those information until your ceremony is over, but let’s say maybe a few of the routine rules might even be helpful to you before you will get your normal customers.”

It always had to end at that topic, but what else was there to talk about anyway? If it was about work in this place it was either about his ceremony or the customers he will have after that. “Hey, don’t space out.”

When Taiga looked up at Kentaro again he blinked a few times in confusion, because somehow the boy had suddenly switched into the same attitude he was showing at the entrance with the customers before.

“All the rooms are the same as this one. Even if the customers pay more the room won’t change, what will change is the service.” Taiga’s eyes were glued on Kentaro while he kept explaining and moved back to the door, stopping next to Taiga. “When you guide a customer to a room make sure that you let him inside first if you are not inside already. In that case Yugo will let him in. After he entered you sit down next to the door and close it.”

Kentaro opened the door for a brief moment just to show Taiga how to close the door and Taiga couldn’t even explain how a normal movement like that made him feel way too warm out of a sudden.

“Depending on the customer you have to make the first move or maybe he will also order you around. You will learn about the customers liking the more you work, but to be honest you should try to please them so they will come back, after all this is how the business here works and with the same customers you won’t get so many new ones and you never know when you’ll get one which might be hard to handle.”

When Kentaro stood up and stretched his arm out, Taiga took it right away and let himself get dragged up. With a graceful movement Kentaro made him turn in front of him so that he was facing the futon on the ground with his back.

“Always observe your customer. Why did he choose you and not another boy?”

Kentaro moved one hand towards Taiga’s chest and the boy followed the movement with his eyes until Kentaro’s hand moved up to his chin and made him look up. “Don’t look away when you’ve the feeling he likes keeping eye contact. Or she, because we get customers of both genders and you've to learn how to please both.”

Taiga wanted to nod, but before he could do so Kentaro had suddenly pushed him backwards and he stumbled, landing on the futon.

“If it seems like he wants you to take the lead, do it. He likes it rough? You’ve to be able to switch between gentle and rough in seconds.”

“Something you seem to have mastered already,” Taiga replied as Kentaro suddenly sat down on top of him with a teasing look before he moved one hand carefully over Taiga’s cheek on which the boy closed his eyes. When he realized that Kentaro had leant down even more and was now with his face right in front of his he got way more excited than he wanted to admit.

“Normally explaining the rules doesn’t take much time, but let’s say with newbies like you, which have no experience it’s always easier to show some things.”

The way Taiga felt the boy’s breathe on his face with every word he flung his eyes open again, as if he would miss something if he didn’t look. But then Kentaro’s finger landed on his mouth with a kind of warning look, even though it still had something playful.

“Don’t get too excited. I am in no position to take care of you. Don’t make me break the rules, because it would be the first and last time I do.”

Clearly Taiga didn’t want to bring Kentaro into trouble, but the boy was at fault as well, after all he had decided himself to show some things instead of just explaining them.

When the boy got off Taiga again it seemed like Kentaro tried to switch back into his usual self. It wasn’t like Taiga knew much about him, but something told him that he had actually just lost control over his own actions. Maybe teaching Taiga the rules was more fun for him than he would actually admit and as much as Taiga was still not ready for any customers he suddenly felt like he wanted to find out more about Kentaro’s behavior change as soon as his ceremony was over.

“Don’t worry it’s normal that you will think about it a lot until the ceremony is over,” Kentaro let out, which made Taiga realize that he had obviously spaced out for a moment, his look darkening as he had thought about the ceremony again.

Taiga was about to ask something when there was a knock on the door and he bit his lip. It wasn’t actually the best moment to ask Kentaro about his experiences with the ceremony and it was also a quite impolite thing to ask, so for now he tried to pretend as if it wouldn’t freak him out with every passing hour. After all no one had even told him when it would be.

“What is it?” Kentaro asked and walked over to the door, sliding it open. Yugo was standing in the hallway with a kind of apologizing look.

“Sorry, I know you’re busy today, but one of your regular customers asked me to at least call you even if you don’t have time for him today.”

That actually brought a weird smile on Kentaro’s face and he looked at Taiga in excitement which gave Taiga a shiver.

“You know what, bring him here,” Kentaro said on which Yugo slightly bowed and left again. Kentaro left the door open and walked up to Taiga who was still sitting on the futon with a confused expression.

“Explaining things is complicated with people like you and because I also can’t show you the way I’d like to, let’s try another way.”

Before Taiga could make sense out of what he said Kochi was back and let someone enter the room before he closed the door.

“Oh we got company today? And an untouched one? You are always full of surprises and here I thought I would have to leave today,” the person let out while Kentaro turned towards him and approached him, moving one arm directly around the other one’s hips as he reached him.

“You had a really good timing today, I actually need your help.”

The other one seemed quite excited about hearing that and he moved one hand up to Kentaro’s face, suddenly pulling him into a greedy kiss on which Taiga looked to the ground right away, feeling more than uncomfortable out of a sudden.

“So what do you have in mind?” The customer asked while he gave Kentaro a bit space again.

“Taiga ,come here,” Kentaro let out on which Taiga almost flinched and he slowly stood up and walked up to them with slow steps, his look still directed to the ground. When he stood next to Kentaro he suddenly received a hit on the back of the head on which he let out a hiss and looked up at the other one with wide eyes.

“What did I tell you about the customers? How dare you not look up at him and greet him?”

It was actually the customer who started laughing on that and Taiga finally dared to look at him directly and he seemed around the same age as him. His clothes were also quite casual, a usual grey yukata and he couldn’t deny that his smile calmed him down a bit.

Taiga hurried to bow towards him before Kentaro could scold him again. On that move he got an approving hum from the customer who looked towards Kentaro next.

“We should make sure that he joins us from time to time when his ceremony is over. I like him.”

“Oh, do I hear any intention there of buying him?”

“Sorry, but the only one I would have ever spent that money on is you and unfortunately I didn’t know you at that time.”

Taiga wasn’t sure if he started relaxing because the attention wasn’t on him or because the situation suddenly got quite cheesy.

Kentaro gave the latter a teasing smile on that before he put his hand on his shoulder and turned back to Taiga.

“So, this is Fuma. He is one of my regular customers,” Kentaro introduced the other one who flashed another brief smile at Taiga. “He will help me explaining some things from now on.”

“Oh, I do?” Fuma asked teasingly on which Kentaro rolled his eyes, before he pushed him more into the room and told Taiga to sit next to the door.

“As I know you, you will totally enjoy this,” Kentaro whispered as he stepped so close to the other one that their lips almost touched again.

“I already do,” Fuma let out before he moved his hands to Kentaro’s hips and made him move closer so that he could put one leg against his crotch on which Kentaro gave him a challenging smile.

Kentaro was about to say something to Taiga when Fuma interrupted him and pushed him down on the futon. Kentaro didn’t actually seem to mind, but he still stopped Fuma when the boy was about to open Kentaro’s kimono.

“Give me a second, okay?” Kentaro asked of the other one and even though Fuma let out a kind of annoyed growl on that he let Kentaro sit up, which didn’t actually stop him from slowly undressing himself and landing his hands soon on Kentaro’s obi.

“Taiga, don’t look away!”

The scolding reached the boy exactly at the moment he wanted to look to the ground and he forced himself to look at Kentaro.

“There will be plenty of times where you won’t be alone with a customer. You might have two customers at once or take care of one customer with another boy, so take this as you first lesson even though for now I can’t allow you to do anything else but watch.”

“Then let him watch, while we do the work,” Fuma interrupted impatiently and turned to look at Taiga while he let his kimono slide from his shoulders. “I bet he will like what we are about to show him.”

“Oh, guess I got you on a really good day. But don’t scare him, okay?” Kentaro warned the other one on which Fuma turned his attention back to him and moved his hands to the opening of his kimono after he had gotten rid of the obi.

“Then let me make him desperate just by watching,” he let out challenging before he slowly opened Kentaro’s kimono and pushed him down on the futon. He let his tongue travel down to the boy’s belly while he revealed more and more skin. His hands kept traveling lower to his thigh as he pushed the fabric completely out of his way and Kentaro hurried to get his arms out of the sleeves to be able to move better.

Even if Kentaro hadn’t warned him that he shouldn’t look away he felt like he wouldn’t even be able to. It was like a weird kind of shock he was in, after all the last thing he had thought could happen was Kentaro coming up with the idea of making him watch while he had sex with a customer.

But as weird as it seemed to him he couldn’t deny that he got way too aroused by the way those two seemed to melt under each other’s touch and out of a sudden his view of the customers changed. He knew that not all customers were the same and there were definitely a lot which would bring him unpleasant experiences, but as Kentaro had said before with the right regular customers he could keep new, potential dangerous customers away from him.

A low moan distracted him from his thoughts and even though he hadn’t looked away he felt like he had missed a lot, because Fuma had already turned Kentaro into a moaning mess after barely minutes and was now pushing in on which Kentaro arched his back so much that Taiga wondered how flexible the boy actually was.

What actually surprised Taiga was when Kentaro suddenly slapped Fuma without any kind of warning. It was just a careful slap, but it still made Taiga look at Fuma in slight worry, but the latter just let out a chuckle on that.

“When I said not to scare him I didn’t mean you are allowed to tease me the whole time you know?” Kentaro scolded the other one on which he suddenly received a way too lustful kiss which made Taiga feel like he was blushing.

“Sorry?” Fuma let out as he backed off.

As a reply Kentaro closed his legs around Fuma’s back and rocked his hips up on which the other one gave him a lopsided smile. “Don’t tell me, show me.”

“So greedy today, aren’t you?” Fuma teased him again before he made him bend one knee towards the side to get a better angle. “Watch him closely boy, trust me you don’t want to miss his sweet moans.”

Taiga just kept staring on that, because talking was something he wasn’t capable of for minutes already and Fuma hadn’t promised too much. The moment he thrusted in deeper and closed his hand around the boy’s erection, Kentaro’s moans got more desperate and he didn’t even try to hold them back, which was obviously because Fuma enjoyed hearing them and pleasing the customer was what they were here for after all.

Suddenly Taiga felt how his own body was reacting way too much to what he was watching and he tried desperately to calm down, but even shifting positions wouldn’t help him anymore as he tried to somehow hide his hardening member.

A few moments later Kentaro came with a deep moan on which Fuma leant more to the front and started sucking on the boy’s neck while Kentaro flung his arms around him, allowing him to thrust in a bit rougher and soon Fuma reached his climax as well, while he tried to hide his moan against the boy’s soft skin.

“You know I feel like we just lied to the boy,” Fuma let out as he sat up.

“Why? Because we are not always that harmless? It was to show him a regular customer, not your weird fantasies, you know?”

“I’d say he has his own phantasies at the moment.”

Fuma’s reply actually made Taiga finally spend attention again, once more he had spaced out without noticing, until both were suddenly looking at him with a teasing smile on which Taiga leant more to the front and put his arms down on his knees to cover the part they were looking at.

“No worries boy, this is the last place you have to feel embarrassed about getting excited,” Fuma said soothing as he got back into his kimono and Kentaro was up to help him right away, even though he still hadn’t put his own clothes back on.

“I make sure you’ll have the chance to take care of him when he is allowed to have regular customers.” Kentaro promised as he pushed Fuma gentle towards the door.

“You want to get rid of me?” Fuma teased him on which Kentaro sneaked closer to him and placed a short kiss on the other one’s lips.

“Not in this life. You would need to mess up pretty much to make me not want to have you back the next time you visit.”

“Good to hear that,” Fuma replied before he looked at Taiga once more, but the boy was kind of stressed out of a sudden, after all he was still a bit over challenged with everything what had just happened.

“I bring you outside, wait,” Kentaro said as he opened the door for Fuma, but hurried back to get his kimono. He stopped next to Taiga for a brief moment and leant down to him so that he could whisper into his ear.

“Just because we are not allowed to touch you doesn’t mean that you are not allowed to do so yourself.”

With that he vanished outside the room together with Fuma and closed the door. Taiga let out a long breath after he allowed his body to relax again. And as much as he felt embarrassed, there was no way he could stop his own body from moving as his hands automatically started pulling the lower part of his kimono away until he could finally touch himself.

He closed his eyes, the pictures and sounds of what he had just witnessed showing up in his mind and making him speed up the already desperate movements of his hand. It should actually make him feel even more embarrassed how fast he was able to jerk off, but at this point he didn’t even care anymore and the fact that Kentaro had done him the favor of leaving him alone for a while was also taking the shame away. And as Fuma had said, shame or embarrassment weren’t actually suitable for this place, which didn’t mean that Taiga could easily get rid of them.


	3. Out of the cage

“In three days?” Juri repeated after Taiga who was sitting on his futon like a statue for minutes already.

The rest of the last day had been quite calm, Kentaro explaining some general rules about when he was allowed to go out, how is days off were decided and so on. But in the evening Kamenashi had suddenly called him and announced that his ceremony would be held in three days.

“Guess that hit him quite hard,” Reo said as he waved his hand in front of Taiga’s face, but got shoved away from Juri the next moment.

“It’s not the time to tease him.”

Juri sat down next to Taiga and hit him lightly against the shoulder to get his attention, while Reo sat down next to them.

“Don’t freak out, okay? I know we can’t really help you with anything as we haven’t experienced it ourselves, but we are here for you, okay?”

“How was your first time?”

The direct question made both boys look at Taiga, but his look hadn’t changed at all. He seemed even paler than usual, the shock about having his ceremony so soon still too much to take.

“Ehm, you sure you want to hear about that? Not that I mind telling, but I am not sure if it’s the right topic?” Reo let out worried, but Taiga just looked up at him and waited for him to reply. He knew that it wouldn’t calm him down and that wasn’t what he was aiming for. He just wanted to know what could await him and not just the boys who had a ceremony could actually tell him about their first time.

“Fine,” Reo said as he realized that Taiga wouldn’t easily get distracted from the topic. “My first time didn’t happen willingly. When I was still a kid I lost my mum and I didn’t know my dad at all. I ended up as an orphan on the streets and well bad things happen out there you know.”

Reo kept telling his story as if it wasn’t haunting him at all and when Taiga looked at him with wide eyes the boy even cracked a small smile.

“I told you this might not be what you want to hear now,” Reo scolded him. “So anyway, when they were done they left some money and even though they did it to mock me it made me realize that if people actually paid for getting my body I could sell it officially. That thought made me end up here and spared me a death on the street.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you speak about such a painful memory.”

“It’s alright. I wouldn’t have told you if I didn’t want to,” Reo replied with a smile. “It’s a story of the past and I can’t deny that I’ve got used to this job.”

“Gotten used to it?” Juri asked with a raised eyebrow. “That’s the understatement of the year. You love this job.”

“Maybe?” Reo said innocently while he shifted from a sitting position on his stomach and rested his chin on his palm. “Anyway, Juri your turn.”

“Eh, what? Just because you told yours I don’t have to do it.”

“Shall I tell it instead, if you’ve forgotten I know,” Reo teased him on which Juri pouted.

“If you don’t want to tell, it is fine,” Taiga was heard on which Reo gave him a scolding look. “Hey, so I had to tell, but Juri doesn’t? You already picked favorites or what?”

It wasn’t actually intentionally, but somehow Reo was right. While Taiga couldn’t deny that he felt safe with Kentaro and found him interesting at the same time, Juri was different. It was like being with an old friend and that already on the second day and somehow he didn’t want to make him feel uncomfortable.

“By the way it’s a kind of fun story, so I’d say he should tell!”

“It’s not funny!” Juri complained, but Reo’s smile just grew wider and Juri grabbed his pillow, but Reo rolled away hiding behind Taiga before he could throw it.

“Coward, come here,” Juri shouted and tried to get a grip on Reo who used Taiga as a shield. End of the story was that Juri stumbled to the front and landed on top of Taiga. The boy complained right away, but the reason for that was Reo’s knee under his back which made everything quite uncomfortable.

“If you want to have a threesome wait until he is fair game and please take one of the rooms in the front of the house,” Hokuto said as he entered the room. There was no hint of a smile on his face and he moved directly to his futon. His workday had been long and his hair was still wet from taking a bath.

The other three exchanged a brief look before they somehow managed to untangle and they moved to their own futons to make sure that Hokuto would get his deserved sleep.

“You’ve work tomorrow?” Taiga whispered and Reo nodded while Juri shook his head.

“You get two days off in a row?” Taiga asked on which Juri formed a weird smile which made Taiga tilt his head.

“Normally no, but let’s say I’ve a special task tomorrow.”

Reo’s giggle was heard on that before he hid under his blanket to not get hit by Juri, but the boy was still looking at Taiga.

“You should sleep. You have to get up early tomorrow as well.”

“I do?” Taiga asked in confusion, but the boy didn’t give him any more explanations and urgent him once more to sleep.

***

“Wait, what do you mean with we are going out?” Taiga asked almost panicked the next morning when Juri told him to get ready.

Hokuto had already left the room before them and Reo was also getting ready for work, his kimono a light blue one with a yellow bird pattern, which looked almost childish, but it somehow fit Reo. Taiga actually wondered if they chose their kimonos depending on the customers, but even if they knew that some regular customers may come they couldn’t know about others, so maybe it was really just a question of their daily mood, which would mean that Hokuto was better not getting any customers which pissed him off, because his kimono was completely black, just a small silver pattern on the lower part, seeming like fluid metal dripping from the sky.

“Sorry, but this is nothing you can decide.” Juri explained while he got in a normal yukata. It was light green and looked way too casual next to Taiga’s white and gold kimono. “Kentaro has work today and Kamenashi told me to take care of your ceremony preparations.”

“What preparations? Can’t we do them inside here? I seriously don’t want to go on the street with this kimono.”

“Dude, you will have the attention of everyone in the area, enjoy it,” Reo said before he winked at him and left for the front of the house.

“Told you he likes his job,” Juri let out with a chuckle before he pushed Taiga to the door.

“I’d like to tell you to ignore those who stare at you, but his kimono is made for that purpose! One of the reasons we go out is to make people see you. We will have other announcements as well and through the customers who saw you yesterday already, the word must have spread a bit as well. But just try to act natural outside, okay? Don’t freak when they come too close or want to talk to you, it might happen.”

“As long as they don’t touch me,” Taiga growled while he finally walked down the corridor on his own so that Juri could stop pushing him.

“No, trust me, they won’t do that. They like keeping their hands,” Juri said teasingly, but this time it couldn’t bring a smile on Taiga’s face. He was more than nervous about going outside like this and especially at daytime.

“Hey, calm down,” Juri let out soothing and suddenly reached out for the boy’s hand on which Taiga slightly flinched, but didn’t pull away. He hadn’t even realized that his hands were shaking now that they were about to exit the house, but Juri had obviously noticed. Taiga looked up at him and the boy gave him an encouraging look. “Just look at me instead of spending your surroundings too much attention.”

Taiga actually forgot completely about his surroundings for the first steps, because he kept staring at Juri’s hand which was still holding on to his and dragged him along the road. Just when he heard the first whispers he looked around and as he had expected there were already a lot of people in their district and he found people pointing at him, scanning and also dangerous looks surrounding him from all directions. He lowered his eyes on their hands again and sped up a bit, so that he was walking next to Juri instead. Juri seemed to have noticed his discomfort and squeezed his hand on which Taiga walked even closer to him.

“Get used to their looks. They will be even closer to you at the ceremony.”

“What exactly do I have to do at the ceremony?”

“It’s not that complicated, but the first thing you have to master is to calm down. If you show them that you are scared you’ll attract even worse buyers.”

That was what Taiga had already thought, but what else was he supposed to do? He couldn’t change his whole attitude in just three days.

“So, they will all take a look at me and then what?”

When Juri suddenly chuckled next to him Taiga looked at him in confusion, but Juri just formed a faint smile and kept walking.

“Okay, maybe I should explain it a bit more in detail. Even if I said it’s not that complicated it’s not that easy either. They’ll come to our house to take a look at you, yes, but you will be the one showing yourself to them and that in the best way possible, because you want a good buyer after all.”

“So what, I’ve to walk up and down in front of them?”

“More or less. We are not like Geishas*₄ and also different from the female Oirans*₅, we don’t sell any skills so the only thing you’ve to show them is how attractive you are.”

“Right, because I have such an awesome charisma as Kentaro,” Taiga let out mockingly.

“You don’t have to copy someone, but you shouldn’t walk up to them with the attitude you have at the moment, because even though one of them will possess you for one night that person doesn’t necessarily want a scared little boy, but someone who can entertain him.”

“What if no one wants to buy me?”

Taiga could feel how some weird hope was rising inside of him, but it died away when Juri shook his head.

“Trust me there will never be no buyers, but just right and wrong ones.”

“And I am on the best way to be a possessing of exactly the wrong type,” Taiga let out in a low voice on which Juri squeezed his hand again.

“Don’t worry, we still have three more days to prepare you. So for the theory part, you just have to move alongside the inner part of the windowsill of our house. They will be outside, so even though you will feel like an animal in a cage, you should think about it the other way around. They can’t harm you! Show them what they want to see, if you dare you can get closer to the bars, let your hand slip through them. They won’t bite it off you know? They are still not allowed to touch you at that time, but you can touch them.”

The way Juri explained things it suddenly didn’t feel that scary to Taiga anymore. At least not until the main part. He had the control over the ceremony so he could play with them first before he would have to be the one to play by someone else’s rules.

“How far am I allowed to go?”

Taiga’s sudden question made Juri stop and turn to the other one with a confused look which soon changed into a knowing smile before he kept walking.

“There are no actual rules. It’s something intuitively. You can move and bend your body? Use it. You can arouse people with just one look, even better. Make them fall for you one by one. The more they like you, the more they’ll pay.”

“Will I have to do the ceremony in this kimono?”

Instead of an answer Juri just gave him a lopsided smile and started walking faster out of a sudden, before he stopped abruptly and turned Taiga around to a shop in front of them.

“No, you won’t. And that is why we are here today. Our first stop!”

“A kimono shop?”

“Exactly. This place is where we get all our kimonos from and you will need a special one.”

“Oh, so there is an even more special one than this one?”

“Actually, you are allowed to choose it yourself, but it’s a special type you’ve to wear. Let the shop owner explain more, come on,” Juri guided Taiga inside and the building looked even bigger from the inside than from the outside. There were no separated rooms. The whole building was like a huge storage full of kimonos. A few were on shelves, other spread on a wooden holder to show the beautiful pattern. Never had Taiga thought he could walk inside a shop like this without getting kicked out right away, because people thought he might steal something.

“Tegoshi, are you there?” Juri shouted inside the building and at first nothing was heard until Taiga heard someone coming down the stairs from the second floor. The person coming into his sight though made him stare in disbelieve. He couldn’t even describe how confused he was about the other one’s appearance. All his features showed that he was Japanese indeed, but his hair was almost white and that definitely not because of his age, after all he seemed not older than around thirty. His clothes were also something he had never seen before. The material was definitely from a kimono or more like from several ones, but instead of the normal layer it was made of a pair of tight pants which ended in black boots. The top was closed by an obi as usual, but both sides had several colors, like Tegoshi had randomly cut apart kimonos and sewed them new together. When he came closer he could also see that the man had blue eyes which was fascinating and yet scary.

“I heard you’d bring me an untouched boy today, but I didn’t expect someone that delicate,” Tegoshi let out as he walked more into the room and Taiga held his breath as the older one stopped briefly next to Juri and moved his fingers playfully through the latter’s hair before he pulled back and kept moving. Juri didn’t seem to mind, maybe it was something like his usual greeting, but when Tegoshi turned towards him, Taiga felt like he had turned to stone. The older one’s eyes were scanning him so intensely that he would normally look away, but he couldn’t. Tegoshi was indeed weird, but also fascinating and it seemed like the other one could read Taiga’s thoughts, because he stopped in front of him and moved one hand to his cheek, brushing his thumb carefully under his eye.

“You like what you see?”

The question made Taiga hawk and look to the ground in embarrassment on which he earned a quiet chuckle.

“Don’t worry, I also like what I see.”

Taiga couldn’t even explain why he was suddenly looking back up at the other one even though he came even closer, letting both hands explore the features of Taiga’s face.

“Tegoshi,” Juri let out kind of warningly on which the latter cracked a smile and backed off.

“My apologies,” Tegoshi let out playfully before he turned around and waved his hand at both of them. “Follow me boys.”

Juri snapped his fingers in front of Taiga’s face when he kept looking after Tegoshi instead of following him.

“I’d scold you for getting distracted so easily, but to be honest even though Tegoshi is known for being touchy with everyone he seems to be extremely interested in you, so maybe you should just keep getting distracted by him or more like let him get distracted by you and enjoy it, maybe he wants more through that.”

At first Taiga didn’t understand what Juri meant until he looked up at Tegoshi again and the latter was already on the stairs, but his look was on Taiga once more. Such a scanning and interested look that Taiga finally understood. If Juri wanted him to draw Tegoshi’s attention then he was definitely not a bad guy and obviously a potential buyer.

When they reached the second floor Taiga's look fell on the kimonos in the middle of the room. There were just a few, but they were all carefully unfolded on a holder.

“Aren't these women kimonos?” Taiga asked in confusion when he realized that they were so long that they would actually get dragged over the floor in the back while wearing them.

“It's the same type yes, but the cut is made for boys,” Tegoshi explained and waved his hand, allowing Taiga to take a closer look at them. “You can choose between all of them. I'll correct the size, so don't worry if it doesn’t seem to fit for now.”

When Juri had said a special kind of kimono he hadn't exaggerated. The material looked extremely expensive, but to his surprise each kimono had just one layer. Which was actually understandable after thinking about it, after all they wanted to see a lot of him and that meant the more skin the better and undressing him would be easier as well. A shiver ran through Taiga's body as his thoughts drifted off again.

“How about this one?” Juri asked and Taiga walked up to him, his eyes scanning the white/pink kimono with a white obi in front of him.

“You think pink would fit me?”

“Let's see?”

Tegoshi seemed to approve as well and he took the kimono and guided Taiga to the back of the room on a tatami floor behind a small wooden wall. Juri joined them and leant next to the big mirror while Taiga got out of his white kimono and he could see Tegoshi’s scanning look through the mirror.

The man didn't feel caught at all when he stared back at Taiga through the mirror and unfolded the kimono for him.

“Is this support to sit this way?” Taiga asked when Tegoshi stepped back with an approving look and Juri let out a whistle.

“Yes it does and trust me you look gorgeous in it! Pink seems to be not just Kentaro’s color.”

Different to Tegoshi, Juri looked away quite embarrassed on his own words when Taiga gave him a scolding look.

The neck part of the kimono was wide open and showed his skin up to his shoulders, while the lower part under the obi was also weirdly open and Taiga knew of course why it was cut like this, but it made him automatically try to close it more.

“Don't, it fits perfectly,” Tegoshi said as he stepped closer and took Taiga's hand away from the kimono. Taiga gave Juri a worried look, but the boy gave him a lopsided smile and pointed towards Tegoshi.

Taiga got the message, but that didn't mean he could easily get past his nervousness. But he succeeded in tightening his own grip on Tegoshi’s hand without his hands shaking too much.

“So you like pink as well? Or do you just like it on me?”

There was a quiet laughter from Juri heard on that, but Tegoshi's eyes were fixed on Taiga.

“I like pink, but I've the feeling I'd like every color on you.”

“Then maybe I should try some others as well?” Suddenly Taiga felt how he was enjoying making Tegoshi look at him this intensely. It was like a game and the one who lost control first would lose.

“Then I'd say you've to move,” Juri interrupted them as both remained quiet for a while.

“Are other customers coming up to this floor?” Taiga asked on which Tegoshi shook his head.

“Perfect, then we can speed this up a bit,” Taiga let out playfully before he let the kimono drop right in front of Tegoshi and went completely naked back into the room. He didn't even need to turn around to know that Tegoshi and definitely also Juri were staring after him in disbelieve.

After looking at a few less colorful kimonos Taiga stopped abruptly in front of one which was spread on a holder on a small platform at the back of the room.

It was almost completely black, but it wasn't the usual color as Hokuto was wearing it, the material was shining and it made Taiga move closer to touch it.

“It's made out of silk,” Tegoshi said as he slowly walked up to Taiga, obviously trying hard to look at the kimono and not Taiga. Juri followed him in silence, but he was unable to keep a poker face and a teasing, almost proud smile spread over his face.

“It looks extremely expensive.”

“It is,” Tegoshi confirmed as he moved on the platform and took it of the holder. “It's actually the most expensive kimono I ever made.”

“So, am I worth trying it on?”

Taiga’s question was answered right away when Tegoshi walked up to him and threw the fabric over his shoulders.

Taiga shivered on the cold touch of the silk, but he couldn't deny that he liked it.

“The most important part is the golden pattern,” Tegoshi said as he kneeled in front of Taiga and traced the golden lines which moved from the lowest part of the kimono up to where the slit closed right under the obi.

“It actually looks like hands,” Taiga said as he tilted his head and took a closer look.

“A good observer,” Tegoshi said with a smile while one hand traced the pattern even more to the top of the slit. “It's like a guideline, you know? Showing them the way to what they desire the most.”

When Tegoshi dared to move his fingers over the fabric towards Taiga's crotch the boy slightly tensed, but a warning hawk from Juri made Tegoshi back off.

“But as expected every color suits you,” Tegoshi said as if nothing had happened.

“So which one do you like more?” Taiga asked as he was the one moving closer to Tegoshi this time. The fabric of them kimono getting dragged over the floor through his slow steps and Tegoshi made a step back when Taiga came so close that he could feel his breath on his face.

“It's about which one you like,” Tegoshi replied, this time a bit more in control of his own actions as he moved back even more and put his hands on his back. “Please feel free to choose whichever you seem the most fitting for your ceremony. It depends on what you've planned. What side you want to show the buyers.”

“Juri, isn't this one too expensive?” Taiga addressed the boy, but he shook his head. “For the ceremony no kimono is too expensive. You are free to choose whichever you like. “

Taiga kept thinking for a while longer. The question was if he could actually pull something similar off at the ceremony as he just did with Tegoshi. There would be a lot people he didn't know and he could already tell that some would actually feel almost provoked, if he played with them. On the other hand he felt like this was the only chance for him to not look like a scared boy to them and he had already pulled off the same attitude with Taisuke.

Thinking of it as a challenge he finally faced Tegoshi again, a confident smile on his lips.

“Then it will be this one, but I'd like you to make me an accessory for it.”

That request brought an excited look on the older one's face and he bowed slightly towards Taiga.

“It will be my pleasure to dress you for the ceremony!”

 

+++

*₄ geisha: performer of traditional Japanese arts, dance and singing (usually women, but the first geisha were men)

*₅ oiran: Japanese prostitutes and entertainers


	4. Encounter of the wolf

“Could you finally stop grinning?” Taiga growled, but Juri just chuckled before he shook his head.

“You have to admit what you just did in there was fabulous!”

“Thank you.” Taiga replied cold as they kept walking down the still empty main street along their district after leaving Tegoshi’s shop.

“I mean; come on you were like a whole different person! With that attitude you could become our number one boy in no time.”

“Wait, what? There is something like a ranking?”

“Not officially, but of course we know who gets the most customers.”

“Let me guess Kentaro is the undisputed top?”

“Right,” Juri said with a lopsided smile while he snapped his fingers.

“Then let him be the top, because I don’t even want so many customers.”

“For now let’s concentrate on your buyer.”

“Where are we going by the way?” Taiga changed the topic, because after already trying his best to somehow make Tegoshi become interested in buying him he felt exhausted about the topic.

“There is a shop on the other side of the small bridge at the end of our district which paints posters for upcoming events,” Juri explained on which Taiga let out a sigh.

“A poster, great. It’s enough already that the few people which pass by here so early in the morning are staring at me as if I was something like their main dish, now they will see my face at every street corner for the upcoming days as well.”

Juri clapped him supportive on the shoulder and Taiga couldn't actually say why, but Juri’s smile always helped him to calm down, as long as he was not teasing him, because then he could drown him in the river which was now already right in front of them.

“It’s not like the people which are coming here are not used to it. The poster is not as important as showing yourself to the people, so we will be going out over the next two days as well, for example to pick up your kimono, but we will go when it’s a bit more crowded so more people see you.”

“Totally looking forward to it,” Taiga let out sarcastic as they walked over the bridge when he suddenly stumbled and even though Juri had tried to stop his fall he landed on his knees with a hiss as he stopped his fall with his hands and scratched them on the wooden bridge.

“Are you okay?” Juri asked worried as he crouched down next to Taiga.

“All good, don’t worry.”

But when he looked up to Juri it wasn’t worry that was written on his face, but pure anger and it was directed towards three men which were standing at the railing of the bridge and didn’t even try to hide that they had just made Taiga stumble, their mocking stares hitting Juri’s death glare, but Taiga held him down on the sleeve as it was obvious that he wanted to get up.

“Please, let’s not get into any unnecessary fights,” Taiga begged on which Juri bit his lip, but helped Taiga up instead of dashing towards the men which were not much older than them.

“What a gentle behavior. Maybe you should also apologize for stumbling over my leg?” One of them let out mockingly on which Juri and Taiga turned their attention towards them completely, but Taiga still didn’t want to make a ruckus, but Juri seemed ready to explode, which made Taiga drag him back on the arm once more before the others could feel provoked.

“I’m sorry if I caused you any trouble,” Taiga said neutral, before he bowed slightly and turned away, dragging Juri with him.

“Taiga what are you doing?”

“Making sure that we don’t get into trouble.”

“They are not allowed to harm you, but they just did, we are the ones which should cause them trouble!”

Taiga tightened his grip on his arm as Juri’s voice got too loud for the small distance to the men and Juri hissed, but shut up on the boy’s death glare.

“Do you think they would care for any rules if we provoke them? They are obviously here to cause trouble in the first place, so let’s just keep moving, okay?”

Juri flicked his tongue, but nodded to Taiga’s relief.

“If they touch you again I will cut off their hands myself though!” Juri hissed.

Before Taiga could reply Juri let out a yelp as a stone hit him at the back of his head. Juri crouched down on the sudden pain and held his head on which Taiga swirled around in shock, seeing the men right behind them.

“Big mouth for a weak whore like you,” one of them let out, holding another stone in his hand.

“Please excuse his behavior. He is-”

“No little untouched one, we won’t excuse anything,” one of the others interrupted Taiga and made a threatening step forward on which Juri shot up again and stepped in front of him.

“I warn you if you hurt him I make sure you are all losing more than your hands,” Juri hissed at them, but they didn’t seem the slightest scared of his threat and why should they? At the moment there were no other people around, nor any open stores nearby. They were also outnumbered, so the ones which should be scared were Taiga and Juri, but while Taiga actually was worried a lot, Juri seemed to take his protector part a bit too serious.

“Who said we want to hurt him?” The one in front of Juri let out as he stepped closer. “You are the one who insulted us.”

“Insulted? You are the ones which dared to touch an untouched boy,” Juri shot back.

“Not quite,” one of the two in the back let out. “My hands didn’t touch him once, everyone here had witnessed that.”

“A smartass, aren’t you,” Juri let out mockingly on which the one in front of him punched him without a warning.

“No, please leave him alone!” Taiga yelled after Juri had fallen on the side and the other one stood above him, ready to punch him again. Taiga threw himself over Juri, but soon the other two were there as well to get him off.

“I told you not to touch him,” Juri roared and ripped the other ones’ hands away from Taiga and started kicking and punching around, but there was no way he could get the upper hand and soon he was kicked to the ground once more.

“Let go!” Taiga shouted as the other two dragged him away from Juri, but they didn’t attack him, they just wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t interfere. But there was no way he would let the other one keep beating up Juri while they had been the ones to cause trouble.

“Maybe we should help you cool down a bit?” The one in front of Juri said as he dragged the boy back on his feet and pulled him over to the river.

“No, don’t!” Taiga shouted as it was clear that he wanted to throw Juri in the river and even though Juri tried to get away the other one was obviously stronger.

Not knowing what else to do Taiga started struggling with all his might and when their grip loosened a bit he kicked one against his shin as hard as he could and luckily the other one let go of him with a hiss. When the remaining one tried to get a tighter grip on him, Taiga bit him in the hand. Through the shock he pulled back with a yelp and Taiga dashed forward, reaching Juri just in time before the man could drag him over the railing next to the bridge.

“I said leave him alone!” Taiga shouted as he jumped on the man’s back on which he let go of Juri who stumbled to the back and was out of reach for the short moment the other one struggled with Taiga.

“Little brat, let go!” The other one shouted, but Taiga was slashing his fingers through his face on which the man tried to get Taiga off his back. Through their struggle the man lost his balance and fell to the back, hitting the railing on which Taiga lost balance as well and when he realized that he was about to fall down the steep stone wall next to the river he closed his eyes, hoping that he would somehow not hit the wall while falling.

“TAIGA!”

Taiga had heard Juri calling out for him, but the moment he had lost balance his orientation  was completely gone for a moment, but then he realized that his fall had abruptly stopped. So abruptly that his wrist and shoulder were suddenly aching and he took a sharp breath, demanding his senses to work again. When he opened his eyes and tried to find out where he had ended up, he found himself hanging on the other side of the railing, but when he looked up someone was holding on to his wrist.

Before Taiga could even make sense out of what had just happened the unknown person held out his other hand towards him as well and Taiga let himself get dragged up.

The boy who had helped him was maybe just a few years older than him, but a lot taller and obvious way stronger with the way he had easily dragged him up again.

The three men from before were still there, but the one who had dropped Taiga to the back had obviously hit his head quite badly as he had stumbled to the back and the other two helped him up and tried to retreat, but the other boy stepped in their way on which they looked quite panicked for a moment.

“If I see you around here ever again I’ll make sure that you will get gelded, is that clear?”

The warning was clear and obviously scarier than Juri’s try to make them back off. They all vanished in an instant while Taiga kept looking a bit lost at the other boy before Juri suddenly jumped at him.

“Taiga, oh my god, are you okay? Are you hurt? Please tell me that you are okay?”

“Juri, calm down! Everything is fine,” Taiga soothed the other one as he pushed him carefully back on the shoulders. After all Juri was the one with the injuries, even though they didn’t seem to be that bad. Taiga wasn’t completely unhurt either, but the small pain in his arm through the sudden rescue wasn’t something to worry about. “Which is thanks to-”

Taiga stopped as he wanted to address the person who helped him, but didn’t know his name of course.

When the boy turned back towards them Taiga could finally take a better look at him. He was extremely muscular that was even visible with the casual grey yukata, closed by a green belt he was wearing. He actually looked kind of scary the way he was looking back at Taiga, but somehow he didn’t feel threatened by it. Which actually seemed to surprise the other one and he made a step closer to Taiga on which Juri seemed to tense again, but didn’t make any rushed move this time.

“For two boys who can’t fight at all as it seems, you are quite some troublemakers,” the other one said instead of answering Taiga.

“If possible I stay away from any type of fights, but I won’t stand back when a friend of mine is in trouble,” Taiga let out confident on which the other one lifted an eyebrow and started scanning Taiga’s clothes. Hadn’t he realized before what he was wearing? Maybe he had just reacted intuitively, because he saw someone in trouble. The question was if realizing who Taiga was would change the situation?

“Sorry,” Juri let out in a low voice next to Taiga on which the boy searched for his hand and squeezed it with a brief smile.

“I hope you two learned your lesson. Maybe you should take some of your senpais with you next time.”

With that the other one turned around and wanted to leave, but without actually knowing what he was doing Taiga gave Juri a signal to wait before he ran after the other one and passed him, so that he could stop in front of him.

“What is it boy?” The older one asked in a neutral voice, but his face still hadn’t changed and Taiga would usually never dare to talk to such a type of person if it wasn’t necessary, but something was interesting about him.

“You didn’t tell me your name.”

“You didn’t ask.”

“I am asking now,” Taiga let out almost playful and instead of turning to annoyed, the latter’s look turned to something more excited.

“What use will my name have to you?”

“I don’t like thanking people when I don’t even know their names. And I still haven’t properly thanked you,” Taiga explained and suddenly he felt how the same playful attitude rose in him as with Tegoshi.

The other one hesitated for a brief moment, before he faced Taiga with an intense stare.

“Hikaru.”

That was everything Taiga needed to know and he stepped back and bowed towards the older one. “Thank you Hikaru for helping us. I owe you a favor.”

Hikaru walked up to him on those words and even though he came extremely close as he leant down to Taiga, he didn’t even flinch.

“I’ll make you remember those words.”

“Is that a promise or a threat?”

That question made a weird smile appear on the other one’s face and it gave Taiga a shiver, but not really an unpleasant one. Out of a sudden he felt like the excited one and when the other one dared to move his hand up to Taiga’s face he kept looking at him with the same intensity he received.

“Depends on what you are able to show me,” Hikaru let out before he brushed his fingers over the boy’s cheek. He seemed impressed of how calm Taiga was and maybe he also felt kind of challenged through it.

“Then please feel free to come and see what I can offer,” Taiga replied with a lopsided smile before he bowed once more. Hikaru left without another word, but it was clear that no matter if he had realized who Taiga was before he helped him or not, now he was definitely interested in him, which was actually a mutual feeling.

“Taiga, what the hell was that?” Juri asked him as he dared to get closer to Taiga again and pulled on his sleeve.

“Hey, you were the one who said I should talk to people.”

“But why choose a scary one like him?”

“I’d say he is interesting,” Taiga said with a smile on which Juri tilted his head with a confused look.

“Say, did you actually hit your head when you fell?”

On that Taiga let out a chuckle before he hit Juri on the forehead.

“Shut up and let’s go. We have to get that stupid poster done and treat your wounds!”

***

 “Ow, Reo would you be more careful. I thought you wanted to help and not make things worse,” Juri complained as Reo put a patch on the boy’s lip corner where the blood from his fight before had dried already.

“Don’t complain, you can be happy that neither Kamenashi nor Taisuke saw you when you came back. If I get any customers over the next hour Kochi will come looking here for me, so you both better hurry cleaning yourselves up.”

“Which reminds me that I should maybe wash my kimono as fast as possible, because somehow I think Kentaro won’t be too happy either to see it that dirty,” Taiga said after he had changed into one of Juri’s usual yukatas so that he could clean his kimono.

“Actually a good idea, but if you are done you two have to tell me exactly what happened,” Reo said as he wanted to take a look at Juri’s head injury where the stone had hit him, but Juri slashed away his hand with a growl.

“Guess we can be happy that you weren’t there or the whole town would know about it by now.”

Taiga looked at Reo in confusion on that statement, but the boy just shrugged his shoulders before he moved around Juri and made him hold still as he brought a wet towel down on the wound on which Juri let out a hiss.

“I bet you thought I’d be the calm type, right?” Reo addressed Taiga with a lopsided smile.

“Actually I’ve the feeling most of you have a lot of hidden faces,” Taiga said as he moved to the door with his white kimono in his hand.

“You’ll learn about all of them over the time, don’t worry,” Reo said kind of challenging.

“Taiga, you know the storage room in the front of the house?” Juri addressed him before he could leave the room and Taiga nodded, because Kentaro had shown him all the rooms the day before.

“Put the kimono into the washing place on the veranda for now, but take the white washing powder which is in that storage room to clean it! It will be way easier to get the dirt out.”

Taiga did how he was told and put the kimono next to the washing place before he headed to the front of the house and tried to not be seen by too many people, because he was supposed to wear his white kimono after all.

He found the powder quite fast, but when he slid the door close again Kochi stepped inside the building with a customer and Taiga vanished around the corner to not be seen, but he actually had to leave to the other side to be able to move to the back of the house.

Carefully he looked around the corner where Kochi told the customer to wait before he vanished up the stairs for a moment.

The man standing in the corridor was maybe in his early forties and he wore a formal western suit which was still rare, but those kinds of clothes were recently increasing around the Edo area. It seemed like he wasn’t a usual customer, because otherwise Kochi would have just brought him to one of the boys. And his thoughts got proven right when Taisuke was the one coming down the stairs together with Kochi.

“How may I help you?” Taisuke addressed the man in a neutral voice.

“I’d like to ask for your youngest boy,” the man let out on which an unpleasant shiver went through Taiga’s body. He hadn’t seen all the boys until now, but he was quite sure that Reo was definitely one of the youngest ones. But somehow it felt so wrong for such a person to ask for one of the younger boys. Taisuke or one of the other senpais would be way more fitting, but Taisuke turned towards Kochi and said something Taiga couldn’t hear. Kochi bowed on that and vanished towards the other corridor.

“What’s your highest price?”

That question was something Taiga already understood, because Kentaro had explained to him more detailed the evening before what it meant when customers paid more. It wasn’t just the service that changed, but also what they were allowed to do with the boys. What actually surprised Taiga was the way Taisuke’s look darkened. After all he had judged him as one of those people who would enjoy doing exactly those things this customer was asking for.

“For the younger boys the service isn’t as high as with the older ones. If you want to go out completely on someone I fear you have to take an older person.”

That actually brought a kind of mocking smile on the older one’s face, but Taisuke didn’t seem to feel offended. After all he seemed quite good with dealing with any kind of customer.

“Thank you, but I will just take what is available for the younger one,” the man let out in a calm voice and that was the moment when Kochi came back down the corridor and everyone turned towards him and the boy he brought.

Taiga almost stepped out his hiding place when he realized who he had brought, because he was totally confused when Kentaro came in his sight.

Kentaro stopped in front of the customer and bowed on which Taiga blinked in confusion as his attitude was completely different than he had seen it with the other customers or Fuma before. Out of a sudden he looked at least five years younger. The customer seemed pleased as well, but the way he scanned Kentaro from head to toe made Taiga extremely angry, because if older or not, this man was obviously having a special thing for younger boys and the fact that Taisuke gave him to Kentaro instead of sending him away didn’t actually make it any easier for Taiga to accept Taisuke as one of his senpais.

When Kochi went down the corridor and Kentaro guided the customer to show him to their room, Taisuke turned towards the stairs again, but stopped suddenly and let out an annoyed sound before he crossed his arms to his chest.

“You know if you want to spy around you should maybe look for a better hideout.”

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that he was addressing Taiga and the boy stepped out to the corridor. Taisuke scanned the yukata he was wearing with a sceptic look, but luckily he didn’t seem in the mood to ask why he wasn’t wearing his regular kimono.

“Why did you get Kentaro? What if he realizes that he isn’t one of the younger boys?” Taiga asked worried.

“You prefer if I get Reo the next time or one of the other younger ones? Maybe you want such a customer right after your ceremony to see how hard to handle they are?”

His snappy answer actually made Taiga shot him a warning glare and Taisuke turned completely to him with a raised eyebrow.

“So letting Kentaro handle him instead is totally ok with you?”

Instead of a direct answer Taisuke went closer to Taiga and grabbed him by the chin with such a force that Taiga flinched, but didn’t try to pull back.

“I’ve the feeling you are a good observer so you should perfectly understand why I chose Kentaro instead of someone else. There is no way someone can tell if he is eighteen or almost thirty if he is in one of his play moods. Instead of judging me, you should maybe thank him for taking those customers away from you boys!”

Taisuke snapped his fingers under his chin when he let go on which Taiga gave him an annoyed look, but didn’t say anything else as Taisuke left upstairs again.

Suddenly he didn’t feel angry anymore, but stupid for not realizing that it wasn’t Taisuke who forced Kentaro to take those customers, but the boy himself who had decided to take those customers to make sure that the younger ones didn’t have to deal with dangerous people like him.

First he returned to the back of the house and started cleaning his kimono, but thinking about what this customer could actually do to Kentaro, Taiga made the maybe stupidest move since he had come to Yoshiwara and he put everything aside and went back to the front of the house to find the room Kentaro had vanished into.

It wasn’t actually hard to guess which room it was, after all Kentaro had explained to him that customers with higher payments got the rooms at the end of every corridor, which was out of an easy reason. It normally got quite noisy with them and to not scare or annoy any other customers they tried to isolate them as much as possible.

Taiga had seen in which corridor they had gone off to earlier, so knowing where to look was easy and soon he walked slower as he made it towards the end of the corridor without getting seen by anyone.

Carefully he sat down next to the door and put his ear against it. He could hear that someone was definitely in the room, but for a while he could hear no one speaking. The next sound made him jolt though, because something had been slashed with in the room, but without seeing what was going on Taiga could just guess and a shiver ran through his whole body when his mind went through all possibilities of what was happening.

“Aren’t you a tough boy?”

Now Taiga was sure that it was the customer from before as he recognized the voice, but once more he jolted when the same sound was heard, this time followed by a hiss which came obviously from Kentaro. The customer flicked his tongue on that sound and moved around in the room.

“What did I tell you?”

“Sorry…” Kentaro let out, but as much as he tried to make his voice sound steady, Taiga could tell that he was in pain which made him finally move and with a careful and slow movement he dared to open the door just a tiny bit to peek inside.

It took him a great effort to not gasp on the picture in front of him and he wasn’t sure if the shock or the anger was taking over faster. Kentaro had his back turned towards him and the customer was sitting in front of him, lifting his chin up. He had the belt of his suit in his hand and Kentaro’s kimono was down at his hips, revealing his upper body and the red marks on his back which had obviously just been created by exactly this belt.

Letting the customers hurt the boys that badly was something Taiga couldn’t understand. Why was Kamenashi allowing this? Why was the whole principle of Yoshiwara allowing such rules? It was nothing else than sexual abuse and normally a crime. It was more than disgusting to Taiga how money was the biggest weapon of the customers in Yoshiwara. As Taisuke had said earlier there were some rules and borders to what they were allowed to do, especially if it was about the younger boys, but for this customer Kentaro pretended to be exactly one of the youngest and realizing that Taiga could actually get such a customer at some point made him wonder if it wasn’t actually worth taking the risk to flee from Yoshiwara after all?

He was ripped out of his thoughts when the customer moved again and released Kentaro, but put his belt around his neck and closed it until it got hard for the boy to breathe normally.

"Maybe if you can't stick to the rule of not letting out any sound this will help you."

The man pushed Kentaro to the floor and Taiga could just imagine in how much pain he must actually be though his injured back getting pressed into the tatami mats. There was a small sound coming from Kentaro as the man closed the belt with even more force as he sat on top of him, but he obviously tried hard to not let out a cough or anything else that would make the man punish him even more.

"Good boy," the man let out in an excited tone while observing the boy.

It wasn't clear to Taiga if Kentaro played a part of his suffering to please the customer or if every emotion on his face was real which would make Taiga feel extremely worried.

When the man moved one hand down to the opening of Kentaro's kimono it didn't even surprise Taiga that he willingly spread his legs. The other one moved between his legs and opened his pants impatiently, but still kept a strong hold on the end of the belt so that he could pull on it whenever he felt like it. He didn't even bother with undressing more and as soon as he got his own pants a bit down he forced Kentaro to spread his legs even more and he rushed in with a harsh first thrust, but as cruel as the truth was, Kentaro seemed to be used to it.

Taiga hadn't even realized when he had moved even closer to the door, one hand now on the doorframe, but he didn't dare to open it even more.

While the man didn't even try to hold back any sounds and randomly pulled on the belt in between his thrusts, Kentaro tried hard to stay silent. Who knew how far this customer would go if the boy wouldn't follow his rules.

Taiga's eyes were fixed on Kentaro and after another harsh pull of the belt it seemed to get even harder for him to breathe, but of course the man wouldn't even notice, he was just concentrating on his own needs. But Taiga slowly started worrying. What if he actually suffocated him? No one would actually be able to stop him.

Suddenly the grip on the belt seemed to loosen a bit on which Kentaro closed his eyes and took a deep breath. But it didn't seem like the customer was done already, which made Taiga look to the man and then he froze.

The man was looking exactly at him. Could he really see him through just the small gap in the door towards the dark corridor? Taiga stopped breathing for several seconds, hoping that the other one had just randomly looked around, but luck didn't seem to be with him.

"Little rat," the man hissed and Kentaro looked at him in confusion and slight worry as he got up, pulled his pants up and suddenly walked with big steps towards the door.

Even though it was clear that he had seen Taiga, the boy was too shocked to even try and get away as the man slid the door to the side.

He grabbed Taiga immediately by the hair and tossed him in the middle of the room.

"Idiot, what are you doing here?" Kentaro let out worried as he removed the belt and crawled over to Taiga, but before he could reply the customer gave him a sudden kick against the back on which he let out a yelp and dropped on his side.

"Please don't hurt him. He is new, he still doesn't know all the rules," Kentaro tried to calm the man down and sat in front of Taiga.

"Then maybe this is a good time to teach him," the man shot at him before he pushed him out of the way. Taiga curled up on the ground as the man started kicking him again.

"What's going on?" Kouchi shouted into the room as he had heard the uproar.

"Kochi, get Kamenashi here, now!" Kentaro ordered him and the boy immediately turned around and started running.

Kentaro jumped up once more and tried to get in between Taiga and the customer, but this time he received a punch for interfering.

"Please let off him!" Kentaro tried again, this time throwing himself over Taiga on which the customer got even angrier and kicked Kentaro a few times before he tried to drag him off the other one.

"Kentaro, don't! This is my fault, I don't want you to get hurt because of me," Taiga begged and tried to push his senpai off him, but Kentaro tried with all his might to stop both sides until luckily the customer was pulled away from him.

"I am extremely sorry that we caused you trouble, but I've to ask you to calm down," Taisuke was suddenly heard.

The man luckily didn't try to attack Taisuke, but he gave him a death glare nevertheless.

"He needs to get punished!"

"And he will, but getting randomly violent is something I won't allow," Kamenashi was suddenly heard as he stepped inside the room in his typical double layered silk kimono, but his aura was darker than usual.

"Then what punishment will he receive?" The customer asked in annoyance on which Kamenashi turned to Kochi who had waited behind him. The boy handed him a wooden branch and Taiga hid even more behind Kentaro. After all he had received several similar punishments already. What made him widen his eyes in shock though was the fact that Kamenashi handed it to the customer and Taisuke stepped back on that.

"He is an untouched boy so I have to ask you to not hurt his face, but I'll allow you three hits on his back through his impoliteness.

The customer seemed pleased with that decision and stepped closer to the boys.

"Kentaro."

Kamenashi didn't have to explain anything, because the boy bowed immediately and turned to Taiga who looked at him in slight panic.

"This is your own fault so don't make a scene now," he warned the younger one before he turned Taiga around and the boy flinched when Kentaro forcefully stripped him out of the upper half of his yukata before he backed off, but remained close to Taiga.

"Don't turn around," he said in a low voice, but Taiga was prepared anyway. He was used to the pain of punishments, not that he actually liked them.

He could see at Kentaro's look already that the man was lunging out and seconds later the branch got slashed over his back. The scars from his last punishment were still fresh as well and he didn't succeed in keeping quiet through the pain. The second impact hurt even more and he let out a small scream. At the third one the relief of the punishment being over was bigger than the pain, but again he had let out a scream which seemed to the customer's full satisfaction.

"Be happy that you get away that easily," the man hissed before he handed the branch to Kamenashi before Taisuke and Kochi guided the customer outside.

"Hey, everything is alright. It's over."

Kentaro's words didn't make much sense to him until he came closer and brushed some tears off his cheeks. He didn't want to cry. He hated looking weak, but this time he couldn't deny that he had been scared.

"I'm sorry you got hurt, because of me," Taiga apologized in a low voice on which Kentaro chuckled.

"Trust me I would have gotten hurt today with or without you," he said teasingly, but looked up at Kamenashi when the owner stepped closer to them. He stood up, getting his kimono up over his hurt back and bowed, signaling Taiga to get up as well.

The boy took a moment longer to move as his back was burning under the try of getting the fabric back on, but then he realized that he must be looking pathetic to them after all Kentaro was hurt as well and he didn’t let it show at all. When Kamenashi stood right behind him, Taiga turned slowly towards him and as expected his look had darkened even more and without a warning he gave him a harsh slap on which Taiga closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath before he turned back to face the owner. He knew that he had deserved this slap and he could have been punished even more through his naive behavior. With the next move Kamenashi pulled out the small red fan which was stuck at his belt and made a step to the side to hit Kentaro with it on the head.

"As his Senpai you are responsible for this as well! Not interfering in the business of other boys and customers is a basic rule, you should have told him that earlier."

"He actually did," Taiga whispered in a guilty voice and with the next move he was the one who got hit with the fan.

"Then this was for your stupidity to go against the rules," Kamenashi scolded him before he hit him once more on which Taiga let out a small hiss. "And this one was for not wearing your kimono. Let me guess I won't like hearing the reason why you don't wear it?"

An apologizing look from Taiga was enough to make Kamenashi roll his eyes, but luckily he didn't ask what had happened.

"Kentaro make sure that he gets back in his kimono and put someone at his side for the whole time until the ceremony. I can't risk him getting into even more trouble."

Both boys bowed when Kamenashi left and Taiga felt extremely stupid for causing so much trouble in the first days already and having other boys or senpais with him all the time would actually make him even more nervous. The won confidence he had shown with Tegoshi and Hikaru seemed to be completely erased and replaced by the same insecurity he had carried at first. The question was how he was supposed to go through his ceremony like this?


	5. A game without rules

It wasn't just the fact that there were a lot more people on the road when they went to Tegoshi's shop to pick up Taiga's kimono that he felt extremely uncomfortable, but also that the person who was with him the whole day was Hokuto. Of course the boy and also Juri and Reo had heard what had happened so especially Hokuto seemed to be even more annoyed.

"You wait outside," Hokuto announced when they arrived at the kimono shop, but that decision made no sense to him. After all Kamenashi had told the boys to always keep an eye on him and Taiga was also supposed to talk to people and Tegoshi was a potential buyer.

"Did you observe your own behavior since the evening?"

Hokuto's question confused him even more on which the other one let out a sigh and crossed his arms to his chest.

"You slept rolled up in your futon like a turtle, kept avoiding speaking with people in the house and also on the street the whole way up here."

Taiga couldn't deny that it was true. He had realized the change, especially when the first thing in the morning he saw was the poster. He was told it had been up the night before already and they had brought one copy late in the evening to the house. Reo had almost thrown it in his face in the morning, but even though Taiga couldn’t deny that it was beautiful, people unfortunately started approaching him out of a sudden and even though Taiga tried to be friendly he realized how he hid behind Hokuto a lot and crawled back into the shell which would bring him exactly the wrong buyers.

“If you talk to Tegoshi like this I doubt he will even show up at your ceremony, so let’s just pretend you are the same boy who he saw before and if you don’t want to end up with seriously dangerous people as buyers you should maybe finally snap out of it.”

With that warning Hokuto vanished into the shop and Taiga let out a sigh as he turned around and lowered his eyes to the street. He couldn’t even stand getting looked at anymore, but what else had he expected? This was the usual thing to happen. If he did something which resulted in a punishment he was normally too scared to attempt the same thing again. In this case it was a bit different, but it was the whole environment which had suddenly grown even scarier to him. First the attack on the street, then his stupid move in the house. There was no way he would do well in Yoshiwara anyways, even if his ceremony ended without any big trouble he was still stuck here and that meant pleasing people the whole day, no matter if they were women or men, old or young, he had to pretend to be whoever they wanted him to be and even though he had seen Kentaro succeeding perfectly in it and also Reo and Juri working like it was just a usual day in a restaurant or another harmless job, he wasn’t sure if he could even handle his ceremony without doing something stupid.

When he realized that someone had stopped in front of him he slowly looked up and as expected interested and intense stares were hitting him. They were two men, both maybe in their mid-thirties and they both were wearing hakama*₁.

“And here I thought the painter of the poster just did a bad job, but your skin is really almost white,” one of the men said with a light smile and even though he didn’t seem dangerous Taiga could of course sense both their thoughts regarding the ceremony. As if they were deciding to buy something, estimating if it was worth the money. It took Taiga a tremendous effort to keep calm and just bow to them instead of vanishing into the shop to find Hokuto and scold him for leaving him outside alone. After all he could have also run away, but it was daytime and the streets were crowded. A lot of people would see him and there were also some customers around which would report his escape back to the house immediately.

“You mind?” The other man asked and held his hand out towards Taiga. They were both actually quite gentle, but it still didn’t help Taiga calm down. He didn’t like feeling like a product instead of a human being. The man’s move signaled him that he asked if he was allowed to touch him and as much as Taiga was ready to freak, because he seriously had enough of talking to people, playing the calm little untouched one, once more he succeeded in staying calm and he moved his hand slowly and kept it with his palm open so that the other one could touch it.

“Such beautiful long fingers, the shape and the soft skin, almost the same as a woman.”

Something Taiga hated to hear, because it wasn’t the first time that he got told that. Even if it wasn’t about sexual interest a lot of people had made comments about his appearance. Soft and pale skin, long fingers and a slim figure. It hadn’t been a mocking comment this time, but it made Taiga want to retreat and he slowly pulled his hand back, but luckily both men didn’t seem to mind, but they also didn’t seem that interested in him, which wasn’t important to Taiga. But when Hokuto stepped out the shop seconds later and looked at the two men which were already getting ready to leave Taiga looked at him kind of relieved, but the boy’s look was scolding which didn’t make much sense to him, until Hokuto suddenly walked up to him and grabbed him by the elbow, forcing him to turn back to the two men which looked at him a bit confused, but still patient.

“Excuse his cold behavior. He is kind of nervous, because of his ceremony, but he is usually an extremely entertaining and talkative character. He will show you an interesting ceremony, so please have a look if you have the time.”

It wasn’t just what Hokuto had said which made Taiga blink at him in confusion, but also his attitude. He was smiling brightly at the two men, who suddenly seemed to gain more interest in Taiga through Hokuto’s words and when the boy’s grip on his arm got so tight that it hurt, Taiga forced himself to form a small smile towards the men. He tried his best to at least get a bit of his playful behavior back he had successfully showed the day before, but he could feel that it wasn’t working as well as he wanted to. Luckily it seemed enough to keep the men interested and they nodded with a smile.

“Then I hope for an entertaining show,” one of them addressed Taiga and this time he was better in showing one of his challenging smiles before he bowed towards him.

“I’d be pleased to see you tomorrow evening.”

Both men nodded and walked away, while Hokuto and Taiga bowed towards them until they were not able to see them anymore.

Taiga wanted to ask Hokuto what came over him and why he had suddenly tried so desperately to make them interested in him, but his lips automatically zipped when he turned towards Hokuto and got hit by a death glare.

“We’re heading back,” Hokuto announced and instead of releasing Taiga he moved his hand to his wrist and pulled him along the whole way.

They didn’t stop anywhere else or talked to anyone. Hokuto kept walking straight to their house, moving to their room without any comment. When he closed the door he put the bag with the kimono on the ground and opened it.

“Get out of your kimono,” he ordered while he kept unpacking and somehow Taiga felt like he would snap if he asked any stupid questions, so he did how he was told.

“Seriously now?” Hokuto asked in disbelieve when he put the kimono and obi to the ground and lifted up the accessory Taiga had asked Tegoshi for.

Seeing it now made him feel extremely embarrassed, because his confidence of wearing it had vanished completely.

“I guess I won’t use it,” Taiga let out in a low voice on which Hokuto narrowed his eyes and stood up, approaching him with the black object in his hand.

“I heard from Juri how impressive you behaved yesterday in front of Tegoshi and the boy who helped you, so what’s your problem now?”

“There is no problem. I just don’t feel like I can actually keep this game up through the whole ceremony.”

“Game?” Hokuto repeated and Taiga felt even more uncomfortable out of a sudden. Instead of scolding him even more he finally moved the object up to his neck and closed it. Taiga lifted his hand to the black choker he had asked for. Yes, when he had asked Tegoshi to make it, it felt like a game. But wasn’t Hokuto right? This was definitely too serious to be treated like a game and if it was about the cruel reality he was definitely not ready to behave this seductive.

“I should really not wear it,” Taiga tried again.

“Leave it where it is,” Hokuto warned him as he got the kimono and threw it over Taiga’s shoulders who got into the sleeves without complains and let Hokuto close the obi for him. It took a while until Hokuto had checked if everything was fitting.

“Wouldn’t it have been easier to make Tegoshi take a look if it fits?”

“So that he can decide already if he likes you in it or not and won’t come to the ceremony? Would you finally start thinking at least a bit? It’s not so complicated to behave the right way to make the right people come.”

Taiga bit his lip on that, because he hadn’t even thought about it that way, but now that Hokuto had explained it, it made sense. Even the poster just had him in his white kimono, after all the people wanted to get surprised by him tomorrow night, but Taiga felt like they would all rather get disappointed.

With slightly shaking hands he moved his hands down to the opening under the obi. He still didn’t like that it was cut open at his legs as well as at his shoulders. Sure the choker was actually showing off quite well with all the skin the kimono revealed around his chest and shoulders, but he still wanted to pull it close just a bit more.

Hokuto reached out for his hands when he realized what made him feel uncomfortable and when he took a hold on one of his wrists and pulled his hand up Taiga looked away with a guilty expression.

“Do you know why I talked to the two men on the street today when you refused to act the way you are supposed to?”

First Taiga wanted to shot back that he wouldn’t let anyone force him to behave as they want him to, but Hokuto’s look was still dangerous so he just shook his head.

“How did they look to you?”

“Nice, I guess?”

“Exactly, so why didn’t you try to charm them more? Those types of people are rich and like spending their money here. Not more and not less. They like interesting company, but they are not planning on playing any weird games with you.”

“And what if they suddenly show another face at the ceremony?”

This time Taiga’s answer had been a bit snappier as he didn’t want to believe Hokuto’s words that easily, after all he had seen a lot of weird people over just a few days already. But without a warning Hokuto snapped and grabbed the collar of his kimono and pulled him closer.

“Do you have any idea with what kind of people I dealt with until now?”

Again Taiga shook his head, but Hokuto didn’t back off. “Then how dare you doubt my ability of reading people’s intentions? If there is anything dangerous about a person then trust me I will be the first one of all members in this house who can see it. And the way you are behaving at the moment I can tell you already that I will see a lot of dangerous faces outside the window.”

“Even if I fake my behavior those faces will be there, what if they pay the most? Then it doesn’t matter anymore if I tried to play strong or not,” Taiga shot back, getting angry himself out of a sudden. Hokuto’s words definitely meant that he had experienced something that made him see through people’s intentions quite easily, but nothing could keep those people away from the ceremony after all.

“You really don’t want to get it, right? You have two potential buyers, JUST two. That makes the chances of someone else buying you higher than if it were already ten by now, but you idiot refuse to properly talk to people and make them interested in you. Who knows if those men from before will even show up with your cold behavior.”

“Don’t tell me about cold behavior, you are the walking shadow in this house, not me!”

This time Hokuto lost the last bit of calmness and pulled him so close that they could feel each other’s breath on their faces.

“You should think twice before you make fun out of me or I will reconsider if I keep helping you.”

When Taiga let out a chuckle on that Hokuto’s look turned into something even more dangerous and after all the death glares he had already received it was actually scary to see that he could actually put on the face of a demon.

“Helping me? Right, I am so what of seeing your honest support here,” Taiga mocked the other one and this time he made Hokuto freak with his arrogant behavior and the other one lunged out, giving Taiga a punch in the face. The boy seemed angry enough to not care about any punishment he could receive for hurting him right before the ceremony.

 Taiga stumbled backwards through the punch and Hokuto pushed him back even more on which he fell on his back. When Hokuto sat down on top of him, Taiga tried to hit him back, but Hokuto was stronger and pinned his wrists to the ground.

“You still don’t seem to understand what kinds of people are lingering in these streets, just waiting for an opportunity like this one. They might not kill you, but trust me there will be a point when you wish you were dead.”

Hokuto shouted the words at him, because Taiga didn’t want to listen and tried the whole time to twist away, but Hokuto wouldn’t let him and suddenly he released his wrists. But his hands traveled to his kimono instead and without any hesitation he ripped it open, his hands moving roughly as he touched him, one hand holding him down on the shoulder.

“You think they will care if you beg? If they hurt you?”

Instead of even spending Hokuto’s words any attention Taiga lunged out for the other one and succeeded in punching him this time, but then the latter’s hand travelled to his hair and he pushed him back down on the tatami ground while he spread Taiga’s legs with his own and ripped the obi open.

“Stop it!” Taiga yelled at him, but Hokuto blocked his next attack and pulled him up on the hair just to throw him on his stomach. When Hokuto put his knee down on his back, right over the fresh scars Taiga let out a hiss.

“They won’t stop just because you say so! They paid for you. They will do everything they want to! And if you go on their nerves…”

With the next move Hokuto took the obi and forced Taiga’s arms on his back tying them up and as much as Taiga struggled he couldn’t stop him, which made him realize that if he already lost against Hokuto he wouldn’t stand a chance against any of the buyers and no one would come to his help at that time.

“They will tie you up, they will hit you, and they might get even more violent with you. Do you know how much pain a person can cause you if they are enjoying it to hear you scream?”

This time Hokuto pushed Taiga’s head forcefully against the ground as he pulled the kimono down from his shoulders and revealed the scars on his back.

“The pain you endured at those punishments is nothing compared to what will await you if the wrong person buys you,” Hokuto hissed before he suddenly buried his fingernails in the boy’s back on which Taiga let out a scream.

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? STOP IT!” Taiga shouted at him while he tried to somehow make him let go, but he couldn’t free his hands and slowly he started panicking.

“You know how much they can hurt you here,” Hokuto continued as if nothing had happened and pulled the kimono up from the bottom and moved his hand over Taiga’s butt on which the younger one tensed, but somehow he was sure that Hokuto wouldn’t go that far, after all it would maybe not just cost his hands if he ruined the ceremony.

Suddenly Hokuto’s weight on him got a bit less and he used the chance to turn on his back, but he regretted his choice immediately, because Hokuto covered his mouth with one hand and pushed his head down to the ground.

“It doesn’t even matter if you scream for help no one will help you at that time.”

Hokuto had trapped him completely and put more weight on his body again while his free hand was still under his kimono and for a moment the panic got the upper hand and Taiga struggled with all his might, letting out a muffled sound against the other one’s hand.

Hokuto leant down to him on that move. “Why are you scared? I didn’t even do anything bad until now. The more you struggle, the more fun they will have. They enjoy your fear. Show them how scared you are and how easily they can break you and they will hurt you even more.”

Taiga desperately tried to get his hand away to yell at him that he got it, but somehow it felt like Hokuto was waiting for something else. He had made his point extremely clear and Taiga’s body wouldn’t even stop shaking at this point anymore, even though Hokuto was right he still hadn’t done anything compared to what a bad kind of buyer could do to him. Just with Hokuto’s rough behavior Taiga felt over challenged already, how was he supposed to handle such a buyer who wouldn’t know any boundaries?

His own thoughts made his body relax and he realized what Hokuto was waiting for. No, he wouldn’t be able to handle such a person and Hokuto knew that. The older one sensed the change and looked at Taiga curiously and the boy kept starring back at him with a calm look. That made Hokuto move again, but he didn’t back off. Slowly he moved his hand back between the boy’s legs, but this time Taiga remained calm and spread his legs. Obviously pleased by that reaction Hokuto removed his hand from his mouth and Taiga took a deep shaking breath.

“Don’t let them play with you all the time. Staying calm is good, but don’t freeze,” Hokuto said with a complete different attitude this time. Taiga reacted immediately on that statement and lifted one leg and pushed Hokuto on which the boy was forced to put a hand down next to Taiga’s head.

“Better?” Taiga asked with a still shaking voice, but he succeeded in keeping his confident attitude.

“Way better,” Hokuto let out against the other one’s lips, but when Taiga wanted to lean forward he backed off.

“The moment someone sees me I am dead meat, so I hope you took this lesson serious,” he explained before he finally helped Taiga to get his hands free again and the boy sat up on shaking legs, closing his kimono protectively around him.

They both remained silent for a moment and somehow Taiga knew that this time it was his turn to speak.

“You could tell from the beginning that I couldn’t handle such a buyer that’s why you tried to help me and get the right people coming to the ceremony,” Taiga started and Hokuto kept looking at him, no reaction visible on his face. “Instead of fearing that one of the bad buyers will pay more I should try my best to give those I invited myself to the ceremony an entertaining show so that they will pay the highest amount, right?”

The question made Hokuto’s look darken a bit again and suddenly he hit Taiga on the head, but it had been just a light impact and Taiga bit his lip and rubbed his head on the move.

“A bright spark, aren’t you?” Hokuto mocked him, but there was no actually smile on his face. “Remember what I told and showed you today. Each time you crawl back in your shell or get scared the shadows around you will grow. Don’t give them the chance to swallow you.”

Taiga couldn’t deny that he somehow liked Hokuto’s way of talking and knowing that he was reading a lot he should maybe ask him someday if he could teach him how to read. For now he was just thankful for his help. His methods were questionable, that was for sure, but definitely effective.

“You have one more day to gather people which seem to be good buyers, and then everything is up to your performance,” Hokuto said before he got up and wanted to leave the room.

“Hokuto?” Taiga asked hesitantly and the boy stopped once more, but didn’t turn around. “The things you told me today, the reason why you can read people that good. Did you experience something which made you want to prevent the same happening to others?”

Hokuto lowered his head a bit on that question, but then he let out a sigh and opened the door. “Call it help if you like to, but in here it’s the survival of the fittest, so all I am doing is making people clearly open their eyes to reality.”

“Then thank you for that,” Taiga replied instead of asking more questions, after all he could imagine that it was definitely not a topic Hokuto liked talking about.

“Thank me after you have successfully made it through your ceremony,” Hokuto said before he left Taiga alone.

Just a few days had passed in the house and of course Taiga could still not tell who was going to grow closer to him and who wouldn’t, but somehow he had the feeling that Hokuto would sooner or later let go of his cold behavior and talk more openly with him. For now he could just try his best and get himself a good buyer to thank Hokuto for his efforts.

***

 

*₁ hakama: wide trousers worn with short kimono like jackets


	6. Demons' dance

The next day passed tormenting slow, but luckily Taiga had enough distraction to not freak out. First thing in the morning he went to see Kamenashi again and apologize once more for his behavior two days ago and asked him at the same time if it was possible to give Hokuto another day off so that he could accompany Taiga around the district.

Kamenashi seemed quite pleased by Taiga’s sudden open attitude and so he allowed them to leave together. It had actually been Reo’s turn to go out with Taiga, so when Taiga came back to their room and explained everything the boy felt quite down, which would change with the beginning of the ceremony in the evening, Taiga was sure of that. After all, the boy talked nonstop of it and couldn’t wait to see Taiga in his kimono.

With Hokuto at his side Taiga succeeded to find a few more fitting people to invite for his ceremony, but of course a single day wasn’t much and personally he hadn’t found someone he would actually want to choose over everyone else, but that was something which he couldn’t be picky with. He should be happy if he got a normal buyer instead of someone dangerous.

They had also made sure to pass by Tegoshi’s shop once more now that Taiga was able to seduce him a bit more to make sure he would show up at the ceremony.

But as much as Taiga tried to keep the same attitude up the nervousness took over him in the evening the moment he got in his black silk kimono.

“Wow, that is seriously a first,” Kentaro said impressed as he held up the choker and handed it to Hokuto who was dressing Taiga for his ceremony together with him.

“I don’t really know why I asked for it. Somehow the heat of the moment let me say it and-”

“I warn you if you start again with this I don’t want to wear it shit, I am going to strangle you with it,” Hokuto warned him as he closed the choker a bit too tight on which Taiga slightly coughed and Kentaro let out a chuckle.

“Hey, don’t get so tense,” Kentaro said as he stepped closer to Taiga and lifted up his chin when the boy got lost in his thoughts. “You had just a few days of preparations. You were never in such an environment before and let me tell you that you did great until now, okay except of one extremely stupid side step.”

“Sorry,” Taiga apologized on the reminder, but tonight he couldn’t allow himself to lose focus. The whole day Hokuto had tried his best to make him realize how important it was to make the right moves and decisions in the short time he had in front of the buyers.

“If you show them one moment of hesitation you will let the wolf into the cage,” Hokuto reminded him as he checked the kimono and obi again before he stepped back.

“I am not a sheep, so the wolf won’t have anything to eat anyways,” Taiga replied more confident than he thought he could at the moment, but both boys seemed pleased by how good he still handled the situation, but of course the real test would await him downstairs as soon as he moved inside the red windowsill and presented himself to the buyers.

A knock on the door made Kentaro slid it open and Kochi waited outside, but he seemed to have forgotten what he wanted to say as he spotted Taiga and after a moment of silence in which Kochi stared with an open mouth, Kentaro snapped his fingers in front of his face.

“Hey, don’t space out.”

Kochi shook his head on that, but Taiga couldn’t suppress a small chuckle and even Hokuto cracked a small smile. “Imagine what you can do to your buyers when just looking at you seems hypnotizing already,” Hokuto whispered at him and out of a sudden it seemed like a challenge to Taiga and that was maybe the best way to see it. He could think about everything that was coming after that later, for now he should try to seduce them in a way that they would actually fight over him, even though that fight would be settled by money.

“Kamenashi said the preparations are done, you can come down,” Kochi said.

“Are there many buyers?” Kentaro asked and Kochi’s look turned to something that was hard to interpret and at first Taiga thought he had after all ruined everything through his behavior, but then the boy cracked a proud smile.

“Kamenashi said there had never been so many buyers for a boy which came just a few days before the ceremony.”

That actually made something inside Taiga jump, was he actually proud of hearing that?

“Guess I see a confidence boost there?” Hokuto asked with a lopsided smile before he waited for Taiga to follow Kochi down the corridor.

“Guess today it’s time to set a new record,” Taiga replied with an almost arrogant look on which Kentaro shook his head with a teasing smile before they all moved downstairs.

“Oh.my.GOD!” Reo was heard the moment they passed around the corner towards the entrance of the house. He dashed forward and Taiga just smiled at him as he touched the material of the kimono and got sparkling eyes on the sight of the choker.

“I told you, you’d like it,” Juri said in a calm voice as he had seen Taiga in it already, but his attention was on the new accessory as well.

“I LOVE it, Taiga you look so stunning! My gosh I wish I’d had more money, I’d seriously try to buy you.”

Taiga let out a low chuckle on that before he moved his hand up to Reo’s cheek. “Such a nice compliment, but don’t you think it would be a waste of money?”

On that question Reo tilted his head in confusion on which Taiga stepped forward to whisper in his ear. “We can still have our own fun after the ceremony is over and that for way longer than just one night, doesn’t that sound way more inviting?”

When he moved around Reo the boy had frozen to the spot and soon the others were teasing him on how easily Taiga was able to make him fall in his seducing trap, but it had been something like a last try out before he had to not try, but definitely succeed with this strategy.

“I am not sure if I like that confidence or not,” Juri let out as Taiga stepped next to him.

“Maybe for now you should like it? Or do you want me to fail?”

“Definitely not.” Juri said seriously as he faced the boy with an intense stare. “We all know how important it is that you succeed in those few minutes, but please don’t lose yourself over all the attention, okay?”

Taiga was confused about Juri’s worries, because after all it was quite hard for him to keep this kind of attitude up in the first place. His real character had nothing in common with the way he acted for the buyers, but maybe Juri spoke out of experience? His serious look made Taiga refrain from a teasing answer and he nodded. “Don’t worry, I will always find my way back and if not I’ve you and the others to pull me up to the surface again.”

His trust into the boy made a bright smile appear on Juri’s lips, but before he could answer anything, Kamenashi approached them and all boys stood slightly back. Taisuke was the next one to join them as he was the one who would be in charge of keeping order at the ceremony. No one was allowed to touch Taiga even if he would touch them and if anyone dared to break the rules Taisuke and some other older senpais would make them leave.

“What an interesting choice,” Kamenashi said as he touched the material of Taiga’s kimono. After all this part of the ceremony was completely left to him so no one except Juri and Hokuto had seen the kimono before. “Can I make the announcement?”

It actually made Taiga feel a bit nauseous as he nodded and saw how Kamenashi moved around the corner to the windowsill and announced the beginning of the ceremony.

“And I thought you’d mess up the whole way until here,” Taisuke was heard next to him on which Taiga got ready to snap at him, but somehow the latter didn’t have the same mocking look as usual.

“I had a lot of help over the last days and I realized that failing here would just make the way from now on even harder.”

“Bad memories can be extremely haunting,” Taisuke said in a calm voice which made Taiga listen carefully to him, after all he had never seen his senpai speaking to him with such a gentle attitude. “For now concentrate on how to act in front of them to get the best buyer, but don’t let your guard down after that. Don’t panic even if you are alone, don’t freak out when a person enters your room which you haven’t expected.”

Taiga wasn’t sure if he should feel angry or grateful that he was having such a talk with him at such a critical moment. He could have come earlier to him if he wanted to give him advice, but maybe he should feel happy that he was talking to him in the first place. After all he would have to leave to his room right after presenting himself to the buyers and it would take some time until they all had their meeting with Kamenashi in which they decided the highest price. If he was just going unprepared into his room he really just might freak himself out.

“Don’t let them toss you around like a puppet, but also don’t get to arrogant or demanding.”

It sounded so easy, but to Taiga it was his first time after all which made it so difficult, but also so entertaining for the buyers.

“Don’t think about it too much. It’s easier than you think. Instead of pretending to be tough in front of your buyer or please him with a fake attitude, how about you just try and enjoy it yourself?”

It sounded too easy, so easy that it almost sounded stupid to Taiga, but wasn’t he right? That was a view Taiga hadn’t considered until now. Sure it was his first time, but what if he liked it? What if he had a buyer he could actually enjoy the night with?

“You have no experience so just let it happen and decide later what you liked and disliked tonight, but don’t drive yourself crazy with all the “what if” questions.”

Taiga looked at his senpai in a loss of words for a moment, but when he wanted to voice out a thank you Kamenashi appeared again and waved him over.

“Time to make them fall for you, don’t disappoint me,” Kamenashi said, but this time in a way lighter tone than when he had received his punishment.

Taiga looked over his shoulder to the other boys again, but they all gave him encouraging looks, while Taisuke tried to behave like he hadn’t said anything the moment Kamenashi had shown up.

After another deep breath Taig dared to step onto the windowsill and he closed his eyes once more, repeating in his mind everything the boys had said to him over those days. With a confident feeling in his chest he opened his eyes again and dared to step around the corner in front of the buyers.

The picture he remembered from the day of his arrival was suddenly showing up in front of him the other way around. This time it weren’t the people inside the house looking like demons in the red light, but the people outside. With greedy looks they squeezed in front of the wooden bars of the windows, impatiently waiting for their main dish to be served. But something had changed over the last days. There was no unpleasant feeling inside Taiga on the picture in front of him. No shiver was running through his body, because luckily the first person he spotted in between the crowd was Tegoshi and it made him relax immediately. With confident steps he walked closer to the bars, but he moved slowly, knowing how important it was to keep the buyers entertained. So he wouldn’t just walk up to them and present himself. For now he kept his distance, pausing in front of the part where Tegoshi was standing. The latter gave him an excited smile on which Taiga looked at him for a moment longer trying to seduce him with just a look and his choker was definitely something Tegoshi seemed extremely proud of. Other buyers had started pointing their fingers at it as well, a low whisper went through the crowd and Taiga lifted his hand in front of his mouth to hide a small smile. That move actually made the people’s eyes follow the movement of his long fingers and Taiga knew how to get their attention even more as he slowly moved his fingers over his own lips on which it seemed as if some people would soon lose their patience and try to grab him through the bars.

Slowly he kept moving, knowing that he can’t just spend Tegoshi attention in the short time he had and while he moved alongside the bars he dared to get closer as he saw the two men from before which had come through Hokuto’s help. He let his fingers move over the inside of the bars, making it obviously even harder for the people outside to keep their distance and a few suddenly stepped even closer, but instead of backing off Taiga dared to present himself even more to them. They stood lower than him, so they had an even better view of the opening of his kimono around his legs and that was what Taiga used to arouse them without even getting into any physical contact. He moved one hand down on his own body, slowly tracing the golden pattern on the seam of the kimono and pushing it open just a tiny bit more around the legs. A small move, a big reaction. Some people grabbed the bars, others more in the back craning their necks to an unhealthy degree and Taiga enjoyed every single reaction. Talking to Taisuke had suddenly proven itself as useful after all, because not just later, but also now things were definitely going more smoothly while enjoying what he did.

With the next step he reached new faces, this time also women in between the spectators, a few he had seen on the street before, he had talked to them and of course he wanted to give them some special thanks for coming. For a moment he thought about daring his hands once more on the bars, maybe even through, but when he wanted to make a step forward he recognized another face and he automatically stepped back. He immediately concealed his mistake with a turn of his body so that his move wouldn’t be seen as fear, which it actually was, because the person he recognized was the one he had received his punishment from the other day. Those types of people were definitely the worst kind of buyer he could get, because the only reason he would want to buy him was to obviously make him pay for his impoliteness without rules. It disgusted Taiga to see how far some people would go just because of a single unpleasant happening. But once more he succeeded in facing the man as he won against his fear and was determined to make someone else fall for him so badly that the man would have no chance of buying him. Soon he moved one, because there were still some people more towards the end of the windowsill and there he finally dared to get closer to the bars again, first looking at the people in the back then more to the front and as his eyes met the person’s stare in the first row his look turned to excited.

It was Hikaru who was standing there, looking at him with a neutral look. Was he just curious or had he really an intention of buying him? Whichever it was Taiga was already in the mood to try his luck with him even more than he tried with Tegoshi. Unfortunately Hokuto couldn’t help him now and tell him if Hikaru was a good or bad choice, so he had to leave this to his own feeling and for now he was excited enough to not doubt that Hikaru would be a good choice. Not necessarily a safe choice though, but who knew, maybe even a dangerous person could make the night entertaining for him? After all as Taisuke had said Taiga didn’t know himself what he liked and what not, so why not find it out?

Slowly Taiga sat down on his knees and he could see in the corner of his eyes how many buyers seemed jealous of that move and tried to get as close as possible. It wasn’t just because Taiga wanted to be on the same height with Hikaru, but also because he knew what this move meant for the view inside his kimono and he sat with his knees slightly spread and even though it was just for a second he saw how Hikaru’s eyes traveled down there before he looked up at him again.

He had his arms crossed to his chest, again a casual grey yukata and nothing on his face showed that he was interested in Taiga at all, but alone the fact that he had come showed Taiga that he was just the type to not show emotions that openly, which made him want to seduce him even more.

With the next move Taiga dared one hand through the bars and again some whispers were heard on that move, but Hikaru remained rooted to the spot. He didn’t even flinch when Taiga’s hand found his cheek. Carefully he brushed his long fingers down the latter’s cheek towards his chin line and left just his pointer finger under the latter’s chin. With a little bit more pressure he actually succeeded in lifting up the latter’s chin a bit and finally there was a reaction. His look darkened and instead of pulling back Taiga formed a triumphing smile. Exactly such a reaction was what he had wished for. Hikaru was definitely a strong character, so letting someone play with him wasn’t something he would normally accept, but this time he had no choice. He wasn’t allowed to pull back or slap Taiga’s hand away.

There was a sudden clicking heard from the end of the windowsill and he knew that it had come from Taisuke, telling him that it was time to come back. After all this part of the ceremony was held as short as possible to make the buyers even more interested, because just having a small glimpse would make them want to see more.

Before Taiga got up again he thought of a last move and he leant to the front so that the bars were the only thing left between Hikaru’s and his face before he dared to blow some air in Hikaru’s face on which the latter was forced to close his eyes. With a low chuckle Taiga pulled his hand back and when Hikaru opened his eyes again a shiver finally ran down his spine. But it was caused by excitement, not by fear. The latter’s look showed something dangerous that was for sure, but somehow it also made Taiga want to know more about him and hopefully that also applied the other way around.

On his way back he walked as slow as possible, daring his hands through the bars here and there again, but he had no time to sit down once more, so he tried to make his stares as intense as possible.

His last look was directed to Tegoshi and the latter seemed extremely proud of how Taiga had acted through this part and he could just hope that it wasn’t just his personal feeling that he had done quite well.

The moment he disappeared inside the house again he let out a long breath and closed his eyes before he heard some people approaching. A little bit confused he looked up at the boys who came from the entrance of the house. Taisuke had been right at the end of the windowsill, but he had remained there after Taiga had walked down, because now it was time for Kamenashi to talk to the buyers again and let those into the house which were interested.

“Weren’t you supposed to wait here?” Taiga asked as everyone had obviously been outside the whole time, which made him realize that they had seen his ceremony and judging by their teasing smiles they had had their fun while watching.

“Dude, you were amazing!” Reo said in pure excitement and jumped up and down a few times.

“You saw him, right?” Kentaro was heard next with a bit less enthusiasm and of course Taiga knew who he was talking about.

Taiga nodded with a worried look, but Juri walked up to him and put his hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, you did awesome! There will be enough people who will pay a higher amount! Tegoshi came and even the guy who helped us before, even though I am not sure why you chose him for the most seductive part.”

Juri’s worries made Taiga look at Hokuto and the boy seemed to understand the silent question and when the latter’s look remained skeptical Taiga felt insecure out of a sudden.

“Was it a bad choice?” Taiga asked and all eyes were on Hokuto.

“Let’s not say bad, but maybe risky? He is hard to read even for me and I’d say there are people who can handle characters like him and people who can’t, and I am not sure which type you are.”

“That sounds at least better than you seriously messed up,” Taiga replied with a brief smile and that was really how he felt. Like this he could calm down at least a bit. When he looked up at Reo he tilted his head as the boy had obviously bit his lip over the whole conversation.

“What is it Reo?” Taiga asked a bit worried on which Reo felt caught and shook his head, looking a bit apologizing around while Juri and Hokuto also gave him questioning looks.

“Nothing really,” Reo tried and waved his hands, chuckling weird, but before he could explain anything else Kochi appeared next to Taiga.

“I’ve to bring you to your room now,” Kochi interrupted their conversation with an apologizing look, but Taiga felt as if he could go through the night now that he had succeeded with the first part already.

“You will be fine,” Juri said encouraging on which Taiga nodded with a thankful last look to all of them before he followed Kochi. If he was going to be fine was depending on who was going to enter his room, but until then he had to keep calm, after all it was thanks to all of them that he had made it without too much trouble to this point and he didn’t want their efforts to go to waste.


	7. Eyes of the wolf

A whole night. It didn’t just seem like a long time it actually was. The sun had barely set before Taiga had stepped in front of the buyers and the one who paid the most would be allowed to stay with him until the sun rose.

Taiga was sitting on the futon in the prepared room for some time already, just two small lamps in the corners brightening the room up a little bit. The nervousness was slowly reaching its peak, but he tried his best to repeat everyone’s words in his head to keep calm.

He knew what was going on at the moment and there was nothing he could do. Those who were interested in buying him would get brought to a special room where Kamenashi was waiting for them. Just the senpais of the house were allowed around that time, so the other boys all had to wait in the back of the house until the next day.

The payment wasn’t decided like as for an auction, there was just one chance for each of them to buy him, which made it kind of tricky to know who the buyer would be. All of them would hand an envelope with money to Kamenashi and he would leave the room for a moment to see who handed him the most. Just that person will find a white card inside which allowed him to come back inside later. First they would all get the envelopes back and leave the house and just the one with the white card would come back later and hand the money and the white card to Kamenashi, then he was allowed to see Taiga.

It wasn’t a given time they had to come back, most of them waited until things had calmed down a bit, but that also meant Taiga had no clue how long he had to wait.

“Try to enjoy it yourself,” Taiga repeated Taisuke’s words and of course he couldn’t deny that he was curious about how it would be, but what if the person stepping inside the room wouldn’t care about him at all? Then this night would end with another haunting memory.

Lost in his thoughts he needed a moment to realize people were talking outside the room at the end of the corridor and with slow steps he heard someone approaching, just a single person. That was also something Taiga had heard about the ceremony. They would just tell the buyer where his room was, but not show him inside like Kochi did with usual customers.

The steps got slower and stopped in front of his door. Taiga’s heart felt as if it would jump out of his chest at every moment now, but he tried his best to stay calm as the door got slid to the side and then he automatically held his breath, his eyes on the buyer who slid the door closed behind him.

A cold stare was what met him, but the played lack of interest made a challenging smile appear on Taiga’s face. “Did no one want to spend any money on me or can I feel honored now that you made sure to keep me company at my first night?”

It had just taken seconds for Taiga to leave all his nervousness and hesitation behind and replace it by a confident and teasing attitude the moment Hikaru had stepped inside the room.

Instead of replying, Hikaru stepped closer on which Taiga stood up. He hadn’t actually been told anything about how he was supposed to behave when the buyer entered the room. It seemed like from here on everything got decided by Hikaru.

This time there were no bars between them and somehow Taiga had forgotten how tall the latter was, but when Hikaru stopped right in front of him he gulped nervously. Not that his confidence was already leaving him again, but he also realized what Hikaru could do to him with all the advantages on his side.

When the older one didn’t say anything Taiga tilted his head with another teasing smile. “Guess today I can finally thank you properly for you help?”

This time Hikaru moved and grabbed the boy by the chin with such a tight grip that Taiga escaped a gasp.

“Maybe I should have left you falling in that stupid river back then. Seems like your way of thanking people is annoying the heck out of them,” Hikaru said, but even though his look was still as dark as before Taiga somehow just couldn’t feel scared of him.

“Or maybe I just want to give you the chance of receiving something better than just a simple thank you?”

Hikaru leant closer to him, but still didn’t release him. He seemed impressed by Taiga’s calm attitude, but something told him that he also felt challenged by it, so they were both in the mood for games. “I hope you know what can happen if you play with fire!”

“A few burn marks won’t be too bad, don’t you think so?” Taiga replied before he dared to lift one hand up to touch the latter’s face the same way he did before, but this time the latter’s eyes got even darker on that move.

“I won’t leave you any chance to complain later when you don’t tell me about any limits now.”

The fact that Hikaru even asked him about something like that made Taiga halt for a moment, because he hadn’t even thought about the possibility that whoever bought him would care for his opinion in the first place. But on the other hand it gave him a dangerous boost in a direction he might regret later, but as the others had said before he didn’t know himself how far he was willing to go, so why not test his own limits?

This time it was Taiga who moved and he put his free hand on Hikaru’s hand so that the latter let go of his chin. With his hand on the older one’s face he pulled him a bit closer with his hand moving towards his neck. He could feel the other one’s breath on his face and a shiver of excitement went through his body as he made his final decision. “I am all yours for tonight,” Taiga whispered against the other one’s lips.

Hikaru moved immediately on that, but instead of pushing Taiga down he pushed him against the wall and that not carefully. Taiga tried to take a deep breath as his back collided with the wall, but it got interrupted when Hikaru grabbed him by the hair and pulled his head up.

“I’ll make sure to wipe that arrogant look from your face tonight.”

“Looking forward to it.”

Taiga felt like someone else was speaking instead of him, but the way Hikaru stepped even closer showed him that he had indeed said those words.

This time Hikaru finally dared to touch Taiga more as he lowered his hand from his hair to his face and moved his other hand towards the outside of his thigh, but he still seemed to hesitate or more like he didn’t see any need to take things fast, because he had the whole night and why should he rush things after he had paid a lot of money to be the first one to have a taste of him?

His lips wandered of to the boy’s neck and Taiga caught himself how he gained him better access, moving and bending his body with every new body contact from the other one. When he felt Hikaru’s tongue at his neck a shiver of pleasure ran through him while the latter took his time exploring the boy’s exposed skin up to his shoulders and collarbones. Without even wanting to Taiga let out a low moan when Hikaru went up to his neck again, biting his skin right behind his earlobe.

That sound made Hikaru move back to his face and he moved positions, trapping Taiga’s body against the wall with his own, but the boy didn’t mind at all. One hand forced Taiga to look up at the latter, but his eyes flickered from his eyes to his lips a few times before Hikaru finally replied to his silent request and gave him a first real kiss.

Even though the kiss was quite rough Taiga didn’t find any reason to complain. When Hikaru gained himself access with his tongue Taiga tried to keep up with the pace, but he couldn’t deny that he felt suddenly a bit embarrassed through the lacking experience and to his surprise Hikaru backed off after a moment. Maybe he had felt how Taiga had tensed out of a sudden and his look was kind of questioning on which Taiga tried to look away, but the latter kept his hand at his face so that he had to keep looking up at him.

“Could it be that I just stole your first kiss?”

“Don’t you think that is quite unimportant over the fact that you will steal way more tonight?”

“For me maybe, but what’s about you?”

Again a question which startled Taiga. Why did he even care in the first place? Not that it offended Taiga in any way, he was grateful for the concern, but still, somehow he felt like his hesitation made it complicated for both of them, like Hikaru could just make another move when Taiga was showing him that he was comfortable with the situation.

But truth was that he wasn’t feeling uncomfortable at all, just a bit too slow to keep up with Hikaru’s pace, even though they hadn’t even made it to the complicated part until now, at least complicated for Taiga.

He tried to snap out of it as fast as possible and this time he tried to go with his own plan and he moved his arms around Hikaru’s neck on which the latter raised an eyebrow at him.

“If my opinion is so important to you, then how about you try it with my pace this time?”

The sudden entertained shine in the older one’s eyes gave him the confidence to move forward and lean in for another kiss. It wasn’t like Hikaru was letting him lead the kiss, but he was obviously trying to give him more time to adjust.

Carefully, but determined Taiga was the one who deepened the kiss and soon Hikaru took his chance to push him back against the wall, but this time Taiga didn’t tense. He moved his arms more around the latter’s neck while he tried to remind Hikaru to not get too excited, but that wasn’t of course easy, after all the older one had just started, this was nothing compared to what he had still planned for the night.

Instead of deepening the kiss too much Hikaru’s hands wandered off to Taiga’s kimono and one leg moved between his, but it didn’t make him feel insecure. Hikaru’s hand on his obi made clear that as slow as he would like to keep the pace for Taiga he wouldn’t be able to hold back for the whole night and after all just kissing and touching wasn’t what he had paid for. What Taiga realized though was that Hikaru’s moves had become a bit more hesitant out of a sudden and as stupid as it sounded in his own head he didn’t want the latter to adjust to his pace too much or it would take the excitement for both of them. That thought made him switch back to the same teasing method he used before, but he was determined to level things up so he tried to take control over the kiss as good as possible before he took Hikaru by full surprise as he pulled back and bit him harshly into the bottom lip. The latter hissed and pulled back, a confused but still dangerous look on his face.

“What?” Taiga asked almost snappy and because Hikaru had removed his hands, Taiga moved his own hands to his half open obi and took it off, holding it up to the other one. “Weren’t you busy with something? I just thought you are taking a bit too much time here.”

When he let the obi drop to the floor he couldn’t even think about his next move, because Hikaru was back in attacking mode as he stepped forward and grabbed Taiga by the collar of his now open kimono and pulled him away from the wall and throwing him on the futon.

Taiga could call himself lucky that he had aimed right, because the impact had been quite hard even with the futon and he needed a moment to get his orientation back, but soon Hikaru was sitting on top of him.

“You know I’ve the feeling that you don’t like a slow pace or concern?”

“Mh, maybe I really don’t?”

“Then how about you stop pretending you do?”

“Am I? You are the one who keeps getting distracted when I tense or hesitate, but maybe all I need is to get guided through it with a strong and if necessarily harsh hand?”

Not a single word had made sense to Taiga, but he had still said it. He couldn’t keep up with his own attitude, but somehow he felt like that was exactly what was necessary at the moment. He should stop thinking and act more impulsive through the whole night. Hadn’t he just realized himself that his hesitation and Hikaru’s concern was annoying both of them?

There was another short moment of hesitation from Hikaru before the latter suddenly reached out for the boy’s choker and pulled him up on it. The material was strong and wouldn’t rip easily, so Taiga was forced to move up.

“Fine, as you wish,” Hikaru hissed.

“Oh? So am I allowed to order you around?”

That teasing question made Hikaru tighten his grip on the choker and the pressure made it hard for Taiga to breathe, but he didn’t complain.

“You wish.”

Instead of waiting for a reply Hikaru gave Taiga another kiss and this time he didn’t react to any change in Taiga’s movements, but luckily Taiga had been prepared and tried his best to just relax. Not that it was easy to stay relaxed the way the older one still held him up on the choker in a kind of uncomfortable position, but now that he had robbed himself of the chance of being able to complain he needed to find a way to solve things which he didn’t like in another way.

With the next move Taiga threw his arms around Hikaru’s neck and pulled himself more into the kiss. The result was as he had hoped and the other one removed his hand and moved it under the kimono on Taiga’s back. Instead of making him lie down he pulled him up even more until the younger one was sitting on his lap. But his hands remained on his back for a while longer and Taiga shivered when the other one traced the scars with his hands.

“A troublemaker, I see.”

“As if you wouldn’t have figured that out already.”

The lopsided smile Hikaru gave him as a reply made clear that yes he was indeed not surprised, but even though he should definitely feel that the scars were still fresh he dared to move his fingers rougher over them on which Taiga let out a hiss. When he got a mocking low chuckle on his reaction he dared to sit down with a bit more weight so that he was able to move his crotch over Hikaru’s.

The latter’s hands moved up to his collar on that move and Taiga let the kimono slide from his shoulders. Luckily he felt too excited to let the embarrassment about being naked while the other one was still fully dressed take over him. But that didn’t mean that he didn’t want to change it, so he dared to pull away from the kiss and move his hands to the older one’s obi.

It surprised him a bit that there was no complain from Hikaru even as he let the obi drop to the ground and wanted to open the latter’s yukata. When he pulled it open around the chest he halted for a moment and moved his hand over the well-structured muscles of his chest and stomach.

“Not what you expected?” Hikaru asked half teasing, half proud.

Taiga tilted his head with a playful smile. “A nice surprise. I’ve to admit that a lot of people told me that you seem scary, maybe now I can understand them better.”

“You don’t seem scared though.”

And he really wasn’t! Not the slightest! Since the first moment he had met him he had somehow seen it as a challenge to talk to him, to remain calm and strong in front of him and mostly he had succeeded, so getting scared now would make no sense at all. He hated losing challenges after all.

Curiosity took the upper hand as Taiga moved again and he wondered if Hikaru would stop him, but all the boy did was observing Taiga with an intense stare as he didn’t just lower his hands on the other one’s stomach, but moved down with his upper body as well and let his lips explore the latter’s chest.

Even when he moved a bit lower there was still no complain heard and his own excitement made him move his tongue over the stomach muscles which his lips explored next. On the new touch he received a shiver and it made him feel as satisfied as never before and the night had just started, who knew what new sides of himself he could discover until the morning? If Hikaru would let him!

For now the older one seemed to enjoy the boy’s new found courage and he slowly moved one hand to Taiga’s hair, but he wasn’t trying to pull him in any direction which made Taiga move in his own pace. It was when he reached his lower stomach that he wasn’t sure if he should pull back or not, but when he tried to move up Hikaru’s hand put a bit pressure on his head.

“Why stop when the fun part begins from here?”

Even without any kind of experience Taiga knew what he meant, but again he tensed for a brief moment. It wasn’t like he minded, but he worried that he would actually ruin the mood if he did something wrong.

“As long as you don’t dare to bite me you don’t have to worry,” Hikaru said.

It was actually a warning Taiga should definitely remember, but it hadn’t sound in any kind threatening. With slightly shaking fingers Taiga dared to pull Hikaru’s yukata open completely. He tried to calm down before he could move too hasty, after all there was no need for any kind of hurry. If the pace was too slow for the other one he would definitely complain at some point and just decide the new pace himself, which actually happened immediately. Hikaru pulled on his hair when he hesitated again, but Taiga didn’t dare to look up at him.

“A strong hand to guide you, right?”

The mocking sound of Hikaru’s voice was what pulled the trigger inside Taiga and he switched into playing mode. Even without actually knowing how to move the best and how to make it the most enjoyable for the other one, he could just use his intuition as he moved his hands around the other one’s member. He didn’t have so many other people to compare with until now, but he had the feeling that the only bad point about his buyer was his size. After all for his first time it would hurt enough already, but someone like Hikaru could definitely cause more harm than someone else. When the grip of Hikaru’s hand tightened again Taiga knew that it was not because he wanted to scold him. He could feel the shivers he was giving him through the touch already and he dared to move his fingers even more teasingly over the full length until he moved one hand back to tease his tip with his thumb. When he heard a low moan from the other one he knew that he was doing something right at least. But soon he would definitely get scolded if he kept teasing him too much and he finally leant a bit more down to be able to take him in his mouth.

A bit hesitantly he tried to move, but he wasn’t sure how much he should take him in or how far he should back off at some point. But once more Hikaru’s hand guided him and he pushed him a bit more to the front while he also moved his hips, but slowly so that Taiga could get his hands to help with the rest of the length he couldn’t take in if he didn’t want to choke.

“If you don’t want to bore me you should get a bit more creative,” Hikaru let out when Taiga was still trying to find a fitting pace and movement, but on hearing that he dared to just try instead of thinking first. If the other one complained about him messing up later he could remind him of what he had just said. So slowly Taiga dared to move a bit more and while he first made sure to cover as much of the length as possible, because he could get some low moans from the other one like this, he also dared to back off almost completely at some point and just teased his tip with his tongue. The teasing made Hikaru act rougher again as he rocked his hips forward a bit harder this time and Taiga escaped a small cough while he tried to keep control of both their movements and somehow synchronize them, but that was obviously not Hikaru’s plan. He tried to force his own movements on Taiga and the boy new better than try to resist, but it got hard for him to keep up with the other one’s hip movements as he obviously got too excited already. Sure the latter had warned him not to bite him, but he could complain another way as well, so he moved one hand down to his balls and buried his nails in them. First just with a light grip, but when the other one still didn’t slow down he tightened his grip while Hikaru pulled even more on his hair until he pulled him up instead of forward.

Taiga got ready for some scolding, but the shock was written all over his face when Hikaru didn’t say anything, but slapped him without a warning. The force made Taiga fell a bit to the side, but he still kept looking up at the other one.

“What? You thought I will treat you with kid gloves when you keep that behavior?”

“You prefer me tamer?”

Hikaru pulled him closer on the choker again on that question and moved so close that it was hard for them to actually look at each other. “Maybe obedient would be the better word.”

Taiga’s body seemed to move on its own as he leant forward and wanted to bite Hikaru on that comment, but the older one had seen it coming and reacted with his hand moving to his hair and pulling his head back with a rough movement. Taiga escaped a hiss on that, but he didn’t complain more. “So how did you like it?”

“Shouldn’t I ask you that?”

“Trust me you'd have realized if I didn't like it.”

Taiga was sure of that and as the other one kept looking at him he licked his lips with a shy expression. “It tasted weird.”

He had actually thought Hikaru would laugh at him for such a comment, but he just formed a lopsided smile before he leant to Taiga's ear.

“Now imagine how it tastes when I come in your mouth.”

Just thinking of it gave Taiga a shiver and he caught himself licking his lips once more. “But that has to wait for later.”

Which meant as much as that Hikaru had definitely planned several rounds, but of course for the first one he'd choose the most enjoyable for himself.

Finally Hikaru seemed to get too impatient to go with just the foreplay anymore and he pulled Taiga even more back on the hair until the latter was lying under him. Taiga gulped nervously as Hikaru pulled the already on his hips hanging yukata away, leaving them both touching skin on skin. But Taiga couldn’t stop his body from tensing when Hikaru moved between his legs and spread them.

“Trust me you don’t want to tense.”

Sure that was something Taiga could obviously figure out himself, but relaxing wasn’t actually easy without knowing exactly what was going to happen from now on. Instead of trying to talk him into relaxing Hikaru used his hands to help Taiga and when he suddenly moved his hand around the younger one’s member Taiga breathed in sharp, but after a moment he realized that it actually really made him relax instead of making him tense even more.

Hikaru seemed pleased with his reaction, especially as he gave in right away when Hikaru pushed his legs a bit more up. What took him by surprise though was when Taiga closed his legs behind his back and pushed him a bit to the front so that he put one hand next to Taiga’s head.

“Mh, you seem to get easily in the right mood.”

“The question is if you can keep my mood up or if you’ll disappoint me?”

Another teasing and it made a new shine appear in Hikaru’s eyes. There was no chance he could postpone this for longer and there was no actual need to either, but it didn’t take the nervousness away when Hikaru positioned himself and kept scanning Taiga’s face.

“You didn’t actually think I was that nice, did you?” Hikaru asked when Taiga couldn’t hide a slight move of panic when he realized that Hikaru wouldn’t even consider any kind of preparation. There was no way the older one would start a discussion about this topic now, but there was also a high chance of Taiga not being able to take at all what was coming from now on.

“How about you wait and see before you panic?”

Well that sounded a lot like Taisuke and it was definitely a good advice, because Taiga had tensed to a degree that Hikaru had to actually hold him down on one arm, because he intuitively tried to crawl to the back.

To make things easier Hikaru sat up straight again, but left one hand around Taiga’s member to give him a few strokes from time to time so that he could relax a bit more, but this time it wouldn’t help that much, but it was better than no distraction at all. With his other hand he stabilized Taiga’s hips, trying to find a good position for both of them, but his eyes never left the other one’s face.

Taiga couldn’t concentrate on returning his look, because he was forced to close his eyes when it got too much for him and for a moment he wondered how people could actually enjoy this? After all it wasn’t like he was made for doing this in the first place. Seeing how many people actually came to their house and how much money people were willing to pay for them it was making him fear that no matter how often he would bottom for someone it would hurt the same. On the other hand it didn’t seem to him as if Reo and the others would mind that much, which made him hope that it was actually going to be something he could enjoy at some point.

Taiga hadn’t even realized how much his breathing pace had sped up until Hikaru suddenly shifted his weight and leant to the front, moving both hands to the boy’s face as he realized that Taiga was about to shut himself away and Hikaru had definitely taken things extremely slow for him, because he could tell that he hadn’t even entered him completely yet.

“Look at me,” Hikaru said, more demanding than soothing and Taiga obeyed, because somehow he felt like requests or questions wouldn’t reach him anymore. Hikaru’s hands were closing half around the back of his neck with his thumbs on his lower cheeks, giving him no chance of pulling away when he looked up, and finding Hikaru just inches away from his face.

It was hard for Taiga to tell if Hikaru really tried to somehow help him or if he just seriously enjoyed to see him suffer, because he moved again and entered deeper resulting with Taiga letting out a gasp and biting his lip with such a force that he tasted blood in his mouth and all Hikaru did was looking at him with an even more intense stare. It was obviously that he enjoyed the way the younger one tried to not show too much how badly it actually hurt and that made him pull out a bit again and enter him even deeper with the next thrust. He knew that it was a breaking point and there was no way Taiga could hide that from him.

This time the pain got overshadowed by the anger about the lopsided smile Hikaru formed when Taiga let out a way too high pitched sound and without being able to explain what came over him he was the one to lunge out this time and he gave Hikaru a resounding slap on which silence filled the room for what seemed to be minutes. Taiga was still breathing hard while he waited for a reaction and when Hikaru turned his head back to look at him Taiga’s whole body filled with a weird excitement, which he didn’t understand, because the look he received was more than dangerous and still he didn’t care. He tried to move his head upwards the same moment Hikaru moved his hands to another position and crushed their lips together.

It wasn’t clear if it was the excitement which made him suddenly adjust at least a bit easier when Hikaru gave him another thrust, but he tried his luck and rocked up his hips with the next move and lucky it really seemed to get easier to move, even though he couldn’t deny that it was still hurting. But he got enough distraction through their sudden fight about the lead in the kiss, because as usually Hikaru invaded his mouth right away, but Taiga tried to pull back a bit to bite him, but Hikaru wouldn’t let him. The taste of blood in his mouth made everything weirdly more arousing to him and he moved his hands over Hikaru’s body to find more skin to grope greedily on which he received another harsh thrust and he let out a groan into the kiss.

“I wonder how much more it takes to break you,” Hikaru whispered against his lips when he pulled back for air and Taiga used the chance to bite him quite harshly in the underlip this time. The force was enough to make the other one hiss, but his lip wasn’t bleeding, yet!

“Depends on the way you want to break me?” For each new provocation he let out he wanted to slap himself, but he wasn’t the type to just shut up, the scars on his back were proof enough for that.

Hikaru slightly changed the angle on that and sat more to the front while pulling Taiga a bit more under him before he leant to the side to whisper in his ear. “Scream for me!”

So that was it. Taiga suddenly remembered a talk with Kentaro about the different likings of customers and how to find out how they liked it and he finally understood what would please Hikaru the most. There was just one problem, Taiga didn’t like to be loud. That had been the reason why he tried so desperately to muffle his own sounds as good as possible. But again it was a challenge and he moved his hand under Hikaru’s chin so that he would look directly at him, before he gave him a short, but deep kiss.

“Then make me!”

That had been maybe the worst thing he had said in his life and the way Hikaru’s eyes filled with excitement Taiga could just hope that he hadn’t turned this night into something horrible through his own stupidity.

When Hikaru finally moved again Taiga had the feeling he had seriously held back until now and he had felt a bit over challenged at some point before already. This time there would be no way to stop the other one, except of giving him what he needed. Hikaru moved one hand to Taiga’s leg and bent it in an almost unhealthy way to get better access when he started thrusting in further. First Taiga was distracted through the sudden pain in his leg, but the new pace of Hikaru’s thrusts made him forget about such a small matter quite fast as he let his head drop on the floor with a groan. It almost felt as if Hikaru had succeeded in filling him even deeper and he was still way too tight to be able to enjoy it, even though he couldn’t deny that in between the pain there was something that made his body feel more and more excited with each deep thrust.

“A tough one, aren’t you?” Hikaru let out dangerously as he kept scanning Taiga’s look without a break. The younger one’s breathing had turned unhealthy erratic, but he refused to let Hikaru win that easily and he bit his lip, closing his eyes for a moment, but that made it even worse, because there was absolutely nothing else he could focus on. That was definitely also why Hikaru wouldn’t touch or kiss him. The more the pain was on one spot the more unbearable it would get sooner or later.

And exactly that sooner came immediately when Hikaru somehow succeeded in entering him so deep and so rough that Taiga felt literally like breaking and he threw one arm over his mouth, trying desperately to stay calm, but he could feel how tears were forming behind his eyelids and before he knew what was happening, Hikaru ripped the arm away from his face and pint it to the floor. He thrusted almost desperately into him as if he feared he could lose the game if he wasn’t able to level it up, but he had already won and Taiga couldn’t drag his defeat for longer when he took another sharp breath and the next wave of pain was mixed with pleasure and his breaking point felt way different than he had imagined it. The scream he let out wasn’t as desperate as he thought it would sound and a weird satisfaction also filled his body with it and he felt how he was almost burning in his own skin.

Taiga let out a few small coughs when he had calmed down again, but something felt weird. When he dared to open his eyes a few of the held back tears ran free and he needed a moment to see clearly. What confused him was how Hikaru was staring back at him, halting his movements. Had he messed up somewhere? Had he broken too easily? He couldn’t exactly tell what the look on the latter’s face should tell him, but he got distracted by the pain of his own body this time. A pain which might needed another name, but he hadn’t experienced it until now and he dared to lift his head just a bit to be able to look down his own body and then he froze.

“What...when?”

He had come without even realizing how and when and the confusion on his face made Hikaru chuckle. It wasn’t like he hadn’t done this by himself already, but this time it had felt so different and sudden.

“Guess you didn’t see that coming? Let me tell you I didn’t either, but I have to admit I am impressed.”

A compliment, maybe? Taiga couldn’t actually get his thoughts together. Everything seemed still way too clouded in his mind to get even a hold on his body’s reaction. Now he could at least explain what the weird excitement hidden under the pain had been.

It was actually the first time for this night that an embarrassment made Taiga feel uncomfortable. Carefully he looked up at Hikaru, getting ready for a scolding or an annoyed look, because even though it wasn’t actually like with a normal customer the ceremony was made for the buyer to be able to live out his phantasies and here Taiga felt like he had took a lot of the fun away without even wanting to. But to his surprise Hikaru's look wasn’t the slightest annoyed, it could even be called playful. Still Taiga felt the need to apologize or do something to make up for it, but he had no time, because Hikaru gave him a lopsided smile before he closed his hand around his erection, which actually made Taiga jolt, because he was still far from down from his climax and when Hikaru gave him a low stroke it couldn’t be called pleasant.

“That’s your punishment for going on ahead without me. Let’s see if the second time will make you scream even sweeter for me.”

The realization of what Hikaru was up to made Taiga struggle for the first time, but the latter’s look showed an excited shine through that reaction. It was more than obvious that he enjoyed it each time Taiga felt insecure. After he had first made sure where the younger one’s limits were, Taiga had robed himself from the possibility of Hikaru slowing down for his sake.

When Hikaru also kept thrusting in, Taiga let out a whine, but didn’t actually try to get the hand that gave him unpleasant strokes away, after all he didn’t want to pick a fight, he would lose anyway.

“Relax,” Hikaru whispered next to his ear as he leant down to him to be able to thrust in even deeper and the boy wondered for how long he could go on like this? But his question got answered when Hikaru let out a deep moan which signaled him that he was finally getting close as well. But he wasn’t planning on reaching his climax alone and he gave Taiga even rougher strokes over his member and the boy tried to find a way to turn the pain into pleasure once more. Not knowing what else to do he roughly pulled Hikaru’s head up so that he could give him a rushed kiss and luckily the older one seemed to need exactly this as well. It was hard for Taiga to keep up with the pace as Hikaru arched his back and started shivering, obviously about to come and this time he didn’t want to be the one getting left behind, so he rocked his hips up, making Hikaru’s hand tighten around him and this time they succeeded to come together, both pulling away from the kiss at the last moment. While Hikaru’s moan was as low as before, but filled with more pleasure this time, Taiga’s moan had ended up more high pitched once again, even though it counted more as an actual moan this time instead of a scream. Even though he had to admit that it was kind of an unpleasant feeling to be forced to come two times in such a short time.

“I’d say that was enough for you to get warm,” Hikaru said after a while in which they had remained silent to get down from their climax. When Hikaru carefully slipped out Taiga flinched, now realizing that no matter what they were doing in this night he wouldn’t be able to enjoy it completely and he didn’t even want to know how much his body would complain the next day.

“Getting warm…” Taiga whispered, but what else had he expected? It was a whole night after all and Hikaru seemed like the type who could come over and over again without problems.

“You still have to feel how it tastes remember?” The shiver Taiga felt on that wasn’t actually unpleasant. He had been curious since their conversation earlier, but when he sat up Hikaru stopped him from leaning down. “Let’s keep this for later.”

He lifted the younger one’s head up and gave him another kiss, this time it wasn’t as rushed and deep as the ones before, but it lasted longer. So long that Taiga felt completely out of breath when the other one pulled back.

“For now let me play a bit longer and teach you some manners,” Hikaru whispered against his lips and Taiga nodded as if he was under a spell, accepting everything Hikaru would do to him. Pleasure and pain, excitement and fear dancing dangerously close together in his mind.


	8. Calm before the storm

It was the noise in the corridor which woke Taiga up the next morning, but he refused to open his eyes. Like a child he wanted to crawl back into the futon and ask someone for five more minutes. He turned around with a groan and stretched out his arm, finding an empty space next to him and that was when he finally cracked one eye open carefully.

It wasn’t like he had forgotten about Hikaru, but what he couldn’t remember clearly anymore was when the latter had actually allowed him to sleep? But it seemed like he wouldn’t get an answer soon, because the older one wasn’t in the room anymore. Hikaru seemed to have taken the scheduled time “until sunrise” literally and had left before the regular customers showed up, which they obviously had already.

With a sigh Taiga turned on his back and faced the ceiling with an absentminded look for a while. Everything that happened the night before was still way too clearly showing up in his mind to give him a calm moment, but it wasn’t actually a bad memory, so he had succeeded in creating something that would make his upcoming work a bit easier. Not that his ceremony would protect him from any weird or dangerous customers. Slowly he moved one finger over his lips. They were still swollen and the skin around them felt weirdly rough. At one point Hikaru had bitten him back he remembered that clearly and the mark on his under lip would definitely take a few days to heal. When he let his hands wander to different body parts one memory after the other showed up. Sure Hikaru had bitten him a lot here and there as well, but the most unpleasant one had been on his hipbone and Hikaru hadn’t held back the slightest there, so Taiga withdrew his hand from there immediately. But a small chuckle escaped him when he remembered that he had more or less by accident kicked Hikaru on that move and the latter had carried a sulky expression for a while after that.

When the noise outside was making him unable to fall asleep again he finally sat up, but when he moved his legs he let out a hiss. Good or bad memory, the pain would last for some time and that made him wonder how things were going from here on. He wasn’t even sure if he could normally walk in this condition, because he was sure that the pain he had experienced several times the night before wouldn’t go away that easily. It had become a bit easier after the third time, especially when Hikaru had calmed down a bit and didn’t rush things that much anymore, but the pain was a constant companion.

“I am not going to take a look first, he will definitely scold me,” someone was suddenly heard outside the door.

“Oh and you think I won’t get scold?”

“He definitely trusts you more than me, so you go in first!”

The voices were definitely not meant to be heard by Taiga, but they were talking way too loud to count it as whispering and Taiga could clearly hear who was talking outside.

“Why don’t you just take a peek inside for now? If he is still asleep we will just come back later?”

Taiga had to smile on their conversation and he shook his head before he got ready to stand up and open the door for them, but before he could move the door got pushed completely open out of a sudden. That move made Juri and Reo fall flat to the ground, as they had been sitting on their knees in front of the door, trying to hear if Taiga was awake or not.

“If you want to check up on him, just do it, but don’t disturb the customers,” Hokuto scolded them. The boy had obviously seen them from the corridor and had just slid the door open so that they wouldn’t make the customers look at them.

When Hokuto stepped inside the room as well he slid the door shut again and the other two boys sat up with an apologizing look. Taiga’s chuckle made them all turn toward him and while Juri formed a relieved smile, obviously happy that he seemed okay, Reo crawled over to him and sat down next to the futon. His eyes were shining already when he saw the marks on Taiga’s lips and neck, while he was hiding his upper body still under the blanket. But when Reo wanted to pull away exactly that blanket the boy took a hold on it.

“Hey, just because my ceremony is over doesn’t mean you can jump on me right away,” Taiga scolded the boy on which Reo stuck out his tongue.

“I might be impatient, but I am not that mean. That doesn’t mean that I don’t want to see what you two did.”

The knowing look of Reo made Taiga raise an eyebrow in confusion and when he lifted his eyes to Juri who had walked up to them his suspicions got confirmed.

“You know who was with me? Weren’t you supposed to wait in the back of the house?”

Reo chuckled on that and winked at him with a lopsided smile. “Yes, the rules say so, but we are good in not getting discovered when we want to know what is going on in the front of the house.”

“Don’t give me that scolding look, Reo was the one who got the information! I was just told who it was from him,” Juri defended himself as Taiga seemed to be ready to scold them all.

“So anyways, how was it?” Reo asked impatiently, but before Taiga could answer a yukata landed half over his face and he pulled it down, looking up at Hokuto in confusion. The latter had brought it with him and the first thing Taiga was relieved about was that it was indeed just a normal yukata and no work kimono, so he wouldn’t need to work right away. The other three had a work kimono on though and it was obvious that Hokuto didn’t want the other two to keep getting distracted by Taiga.

“Ask him about the details later in our room, but for now get Kochi here so that he can bring him to Kamenashi.”

“You’re such poor sport!” Reo complained, but stood up nevertheless.

“For now I am relieved to see that you seem fine, more or less. Take it easy for now,” Juri said with a light smile and Taiga nodded thankfully before both boys left the room, leaving him alone with Hokuto. The boy approached him and took the blanket in his hand and for a moment Taiga wanted to keep a grip on it as he did with Reo, but he also didn’t want to start an argument with Hokuto and because the boy had work as well he had definitely not all day to take care of Taiga, so in the end he let Hokuto put the blanket aside. But Taiga still closed his arms around his body, not that he could hide any of the marks he had gotten from last night.

“Mh, seems like he wasn’t actually such a good choice,” Hokuto let out in a neutral voice as he scanned the boy’s skin.

“You should see his marks though,” Taiga let out with a proud undertone on which Hokuto gave him a weird look, but didn’t comment on it. He moved in front of Taiga and stretched his hands out.

“Trust me you don’t want to get up alone for now, it will hurt more than you think at the moment.”

Taiga trusted the latter’s words completely, after all they all went through the same, even if it weren’t all ceremonies, the pain of their first time was more or less even.

Carefully he let himself get pulled up and Hokuto grabbed the yukata, handing it to the younger one who got dressed without another word. The marks Hikaru had left on his neck and also upper body weren’t even half as bad as the pain he would have to endure while walking he could feel that already and it made him hesitate to even make a step.

“Don’t worry, Kochi will bring you to Kamenashi so that he can decide for how long you’ll get off. Then you can go to the back of the house take a bath and rest for now.”

“Sounds too good to have no catch?”

“I know you are a newbie here and are suspicious about everything and everyone, but this time you should make sure to properly thank Kamenashi for the time you will get off. He is a truly good owner of this place, you better treat him with respect!”

Sure Taiga had seen already that Kamenashi was making good decisions as the owner. After all the punishments were a part of keeping order and he couldn’t judge him for punishing him for his own mistakes.

“How long will I get off?”

“That depends on your talk with the owner. You have to tell him everything that happened last night and he will take a proper look at your body as well before he decides.”

Even though Taiga couldn’t deny that he would love to get as much days off as possible before having to start working regularly in the house, but giving all the details to Kamenashi wasn’t actually that pleasant for him and ‘taking a look at his body’ would also definitely be more detailed than just a brief look from afar.

“Would you stop freaking about everything so easily? You make yourself always crazy over things you don’t even know.”

“I am not freaking out,” Taiga pouted, but who was he kidding, Hokuto could easily tell when he was feeling restless. The boy seemed to be able to read all of them without a problem.

A knock on the door told them that Kochi had arrived, but when Hokuto went over to open it he turned to Taiga once more.

“Will you be able to tell the owner everything?”

The question wasn’t as harmless as it sounded at first and Taiga thought about an answer for a moment longer before his look turned to confident and he nodded.

“There is nothing I would need to keep a secret.”

“Good, then your choice was a wise decision.”

It was making a proud feeling rise in Taiga’s chest to get told something like that, by the one person who seemed to care the least at first sight, but when looked closely enough tried all he could to help others to not live through a nightmare.

It was not just thanks to Hokuto, but also the other boys that Taiga had been even able to take all those big steps in just a few days. And Hokuto making sure that there was no hidden wall building up inside of Taiga, some secret about a happening he wouldn’t be able to tell anyone about, made him realize that Hokuto’s cold attitude was exactly that kind of wall. If he could take a look behind it after some time wasn’t sure, but for now he was happy that the boy didn’t crumble under whatever burden he was carrying around with him.

***

A brief talk with Kamenashi, a not so pleasant examination of his body, a long and definitely needed bath and some more hours of sleep in his own room. That was how the rest of the day had been, but of course the moment his roommates came back in the evening the calm time was over.

“That’s all? You are kidding me, right? There must be some dirty secret you don’t want to tell us.”

It made Taiga smile how Reo sat on the futon in front of him with crossed arms, pouting like a kid who wasn’t satisfied with his parents’ good night story. The talk with Kamenashi had somehow made it easier for Taiga to actually tell the others as well about his ceremony, after all there was really no need to hide anything. A few things he even talked proudly about and Reo’s eyes shined more and more with each time Taiga talked about something that had to do with biting.

“I can imagine that after all the time working at this place this is nothing compared to things you have experienced, but come on for my ceremony it’s enough, isn’t it? It was my first time after all, it could have ended in a huge chaos as well.”

“Luckily it didn’t,” Juri replied while he was already lying under his blanket with his arms thrown around his pillow. Hokuto was asleep already or he at least pretended to be, because Taiga doubted that with Reo’s excited loud voice he could sleep. He wondered if someone from the other rooms would come at some point and actually scold them.

“By the way for how long did you get off?”

Taiga hesitated a moment on Juri’s question, because he wasn’t sure what kind of reaction would come from the boys on his reply.

“Five days.”

Reo nodded slowly on that before he dropped to the side on his pillow with a pout. “So there were seriously no other dirty secrets.”

Taiga shook his head with a light smile on the boy’s disappointment before he looked at Juri who was about to fall asleep.

“Hey, did you hear what I said?”

Juri cracked one eye open again when Taiga hit him on the forehead.

“It’s one of the shortest breaks you can get, so you can be really happy that your ceremony went without problems,” Juri replied in a tired voice.

“Such a shame that I couldn’t give you any other stories, right?” On Taiga’s teasing question towards Reo there was no reaction and when Juri turned to look at Reo as well the boy had suddenly fallen asleep.

“And that after he had been so hyper the whole day and couldn’t wait to talk to you,” Juri scolded him before he threw a blanket over him and turned to Taiga. “You should sleep as well.”

“I slept half of the day, I am actually not that tired.”

“Then sleep for my sake? Because I have work tomorrow.”

That actually made Taiga finally lay down and he faced Juri who still carried a slightly worried expression, but the exhaustion of the day was visible even more clearly.

“Did anything happen at work today?”

“What? No, all good.”

“Are you sure? You seem seriously exhausted!”

Suddenly Juri’s expression turned to something more embarrassed and Taiga raised an eyebrow in confusion at him on which the other one let out a sigh of defeat.

“I couldn’t sleep last night after hearing from Reo who you were with. After all I had seen Hikaru just once, but I couldn’t actually tell if he was just looking scary or if he could do you serious harm.”

“Thank you for worrying so much for me,” Taiga replied honestly and the other one cracked a sheepish smile.

“I am really happy that you are fine!”

“Let’s hope it will stay like this after I start working.”

“Let’s think about that when the time comes, for now you can rest a while longer.”

“By the way how long did the others get off after their ceremony?” Taiga had lowered his voice with that question, not wanting Hokuto to hear the conversation, even though he was sure it wasn’t actually a bad question, after all none of them had actually told him that it was forbidden to talk about the ceremonies of other people.

“Mh, I came here after Kentaro and Hokuto and since then we had just one other ceremony and yours. The other boy had about a week as well, like you. For the others I just know what the others told me.”

“Which would be?” Juri’s sudden hesitation made Taiga feel a bit uncomfortable after all.

“Hokuto had eight days if my information is right.”

That actually made Taiga blink in confusion. So his ceremony hadn’t been that bad, right? But the fact that he had had a ceremony meant that nothing else in that kind of way could have happened before, so through what experience did he built up this strong wall around him? Sooner or later he needed to find out, but for now it could wait, after all the boy wouldn’t just openly talk to him.

“What about Kentaro?”

“His ceremony had been quite chaotic and kind of dangerous as I heard. Rumors said that Kamenashi was even considering in stopping it at some point. He got a whole month off.”

There was nothing Taiga could reply to that. A whole month? And he was still one of the calmest senpais around, always taking care of the younger ones. After all the talks he had with him already he hadn’t thought of the possibility that his ceremony had been that bad. Now he felt like apologizing to the latter for bringing up the topic right on his first day. But at that time Kentaro had also just smiled and waved it off as if it was just another bad memory they all shared.

***

After spending at least an hour on the windowsill Taiga could finally understand why Hokuto liked this spot so much. There was light breeze going and even though it was quite cold outside with the leaves turning red it was still pleasant. The view on the garden made it easy to relax and with the pillows on the windowsill it was easy to fall asleep.

All his other roommates had work and so Taiga had been left alone since the morning. Kentaro had come by once to check up on him, but he had work as well and couldn’t stay long. He didn’t mind it though. He could need some time alone and before he could fall asleep he decided to take a walk in the garden instead of just looking at it.

The yukata he was wearing was from Juri. It was a simple dark grey one with white lines on it. The boy had promised to help him decide on his own yukata and kimono in the evening. He had almost demanded to wait for him, but Taiga didn’t mind, it wasn’t like he cared for his clothes so much. The room he had received the white kimono from also had storage with yukatas and work kimonos for new boys. The others were also allowed to put theirs back and choose new ones if they wanted to show the customers something new.

Slowly Taiga made his way downstairs and went to the back of the house, stepping out on the veranda. Here it was even a bit cooler than upstairs, but he still could spend some time here without freezing. Instead of sitting down he walked alongside the house to the next corner, but when he turned around it he spotted someone sitting there, looking up at the small pond in front of him where a few carps had gathered, obviously hoping for the boy to give them some food.

“Hey,” Taiga addressed Kochi before he stepped closer, not wanting to scare the boy. The one in question turned to look at him and cracked a wide smile.

“Good to see you wandering around like this,” Kochi said before he tapped the spot next to him and Taiga walked closer. He knew what he meant with that, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t in pain and the way he had to watch out how to sit down made that obvious.

“Don’t worry in a few days it will be fine again,” Kochi ensured him and Taiga had to admit that it was already a bit better.

“You don’t have to work today?” Taiga asked curious and the boy shook his head.

“Like the boys I have my days off as well.”

“So you are living in this house as well?”

“Yes I have my room on the other side of the corridor.”

Taiga felt a bit stupid for not having realized that until now, but he also barely met Taisuke or other senpais around the quarters. Their work times were divided in shifts, so they rarely met if it wasn’t in the front of the house.

“You have a room for yourself?”

“Jealous? If Juri keeps kicking you, feel free to come to my room.”

Both boys had to giggle on that.

“Or when Reo tries something at night.”

“Oh trust me, sooner or later he will.”

“So, you are not taking customers, but…” Taiga wasn’t sure if he should actually ask a question like this, but the boy talked as if he didn’t get his information just by talking. Kochi didn’t seem to mind as he gave him a lopsided smile.

“The members of the house tried, as they always try with new people no matter if it’s a new boy or just a worker, but let’s say Hokuto wasn’t that happy about it and because he is scary no one ever approached me after that.”

“Hokuto?” Taiga asked in disbelieve, because the boy seemed like he never interfered in other peoples’ business so he was positively surprised.

“Weird, right? But I guess he was just annoyed, because it is already like a habit for some boys to approach new people.”

“Guess in this house it would be a miracle if there was nothing going on.”

“But you can always say no, remember that. At least when it’s not a customer,” Kochi explained and Taiga nodded thankfully, because there were definitely some people he would refuse and Taisuke was the first name on that list.

“And if you get Hokuto to do it then you’ll definitely get an award.”

Taiga tilted his head in confusion on that statement, but why was he even surprised? Hokuto didn’t seem like he wanted to be here in the first place.

“Since when are you here?”

“I came here a bit before Hokuto.”

“So do you know why Hokuto came here?”

Of course the boy shook his head and Taiga wondered why he had even asked. Was it important?

“I just remember him almost begging Kamenashi to let him stay. He came barely weeks after me and he seemed quite of desperate.”

“He didn’t want to accept him?”

“As you have definitely realized as well he isn’t the usual type to work at such a place, so Kamenashi didn’t see him as fitting.”

“But in the end he let him stay?”

“He said if he shows him a good ceremony he can stay if it fails he has to leave.”

Again the point which made Taiga curious about Hokuto’s past. “Did something happen to him here after the ceremony?”

“No, he is actually one with the quietest customers. They like his quiet, yet dominant attitude, so he normally doesn’t get many customers which are dangerous, they search themselves weaker boys.”

Hearing that gave Taiga a shiver, after all he was definitely on those customers’ lists. But that left the question open why Hokuto was able to read people so easily. Had he always carried that dark aura around with him? There was so much he still didn’t know about him and the other boys, but he had to first become part of the house to be able to ask more questions. Someone like Hokuto wouldn’t openly talk when he wasn’t feeling secure, something Taiga would maybe never accomplish, but he still wanted to try.

“Why did you end up here?”

Kochi’s look slightly darkened on that question, but that wasn't a surprise. He was such a calm and polite boy that Taiga doubted he came here on his own free will.

“You could say it was more or less a coincidence. Kentaro was the one who brought me here. I didn’t even realize how I ended up here. I got told he actually dragged me out the river covered in my own blood,” Kochi said and opened the top he was wearing and turned his back to Taiga on which the boy gasped. A long deep scar ran over his back.

“I had a heavy head injury as well and it seemed like a miracle that I survived whatever happened.”

“Whatever happened?” Taiga asked carefully, already guessing the boy’s answer.

Kochi nodded with an almost embarrassed smile. “I can't remember what happened. I don't remember anything that happened before that day.”

“But your name?”

Kochi nodded with a neutral expression, almost as if he wouldn’t mind not even knowing his name.

“Don't you want to know what happened? What if whoever did this to you still tries to get after you?”

“Then this will be my fate I guess.” He said it so carefree that Taiga got almost angry, but it wasn't his life and he couldn't imagine how it must feel to lose all memories. What he could tell though was how grateful Kochi was to be allowed to stay. As long as he could restart here maybe it really didn't matter what happened before.

***

“Juri stop pulling, they are not running away,” Taiga scolded the other one when they went to choose Taiga's new clothes. Juri had rushed to take a bath and immediately dragged Taiga out of their room.

“I like choosing kimonos,” Juri said with a wide smile as they entered the room.

“Could we start with the normal yukatas, so I can finally give yours back?”

“You don't like it?”

“That’s not the point,” Taiga said before he wanted to sit down in front of the shelf, but Juri was next to him immediately, taking a hold on his arm to help him. While he felt quite embarrassed around the other, with Juri he didn't mind at all to show that it still hurt. Juri set next to him and opened the wooden shelf.

“Ok so you usually get two yukatas. How about you choose one and I choose one?”

The shine in Juri’s eyes made it impossible for Taiga to refuse. Like a kid which was allowed to choose his own birthday present he waited for Juri’s reply.

“Fine, then go ahead.”

Juri did immediately as he was told and went with his hands through the yukatas. A few he pulled out a bit to have a better look on the pattern, but then he shook his head and put them back. Then there was an approving hum heard when he pulled the next one out and handed it to Taiga.

“This one!”

Taiga took it in his hands and unfolded it. Sure it wasn't really fancy, but it was green as grass with some thin black lines on it.

“You really think this fits me?”

“Definitely! You've pale skin and something with a bit black in it makes it even more beautiful.”

“Do I hear a compliment there?”

The embarrassment was written all over Juri’s face and he put his hand to the back of his head, looking to the ground.

“Thank you,” Taiga said with a smile on which Juri nodded.

“Okay, next one is your choice.”

Taiga looked back into the shelf and pulled one yukata out which he had spotted earlier already.

“Wow, are you sure?”

“Too much?” Taiga asked and wanted to put it back, but Juri grabbed his wrist and stopped him.

“Most of those would fit you perfectly. it's a question of confidence.”

Exactly what Taiga was lacking and still he always chose ways which needed exactly that.

“Then I guess it's time to break out of my shell,” Taiga said confident as he put the purple/white yukata to the side. The lines on it were thicker than the one Juri chose and they didn’t just move straight to the bottom, but crossed at several points.

“Great then we have those two, you can choose several obis for them as well and exchange them whenever you feel like it,” Juri said and handed him a grey obi for the green yukata and a violet one for the second one for now.

“Next are your work kimonos,” Juri said as he crawled over to another shelf. “Sometimes you have to change into another kimono on the same day, depending on your type of customers. A few might also get ripped.”

Taiga just nodded, not wanting to think about the unpleasant parts of his new job so soon after his ceremony.

“So you can choose four kimonos and in case you need another one you can always get one from here.”

Taiga waited for Juri to choose one, but this time he didn't.

“I want you to choose them, after all you will wear them a lot,” Juri explained, but Taiga could read the boy like an open book. There was a smirk on his face which he tried to hide, but failed. For now Taiga just started choosing.

The first one he chose was violet/blue/white with balls like kids use for playing as a pattern. The second one was darker, black as the main color with a red/golden pattern in form of several rhombus connected to lines.

“One more,” Juri said and Taiga was sure that the boy hadn't realized his own mistake, but he just cracked a teasing smile before he pulled another kimono out. This one had a simple pattern with two colors. The main color was also black, but there were a lot of small red dots on it, making it look like half black, half red instead.

“So?”

“So what?” Juri asked with a raised eyebrow, but he was bad at bluffing and Taiga pointed at the shelf.

“You are dying to choose the last one, aren't you?”

Juri bit his lip on that, but he didn't start looking for a fitting one.

“Actually…” he started before he stood up and Taiga kept looking at him in confusion as he pulled out a small box from a corner and walked up to him again, placing it in front of him. “I got one for you.”

“What do you mean you got one for me?”

“It's a present.”

“Juri, don't tell me you bought this from Tegoshi’s shop?”

He didn't even need to hear the answer. Juri’s apologizing look made Taiga hit him on the head.

“Idiot, there are so many kimonos here, why would you do this?”

“Because I think this one fits you way better than any of the ones we have.”

Taiga still looked at him scolding, but finally opened the box and somehow he had expected the color, but it looked way more expensive than one of their usual kimonos. He unfolded it to look at the pattern. The kimono itself was white, the pattern silver and pink. On the back was a silver river flowing and on the sites were Sakura trees from which the pink Sakura fell over the whole length of the kimono.

“Do you like it?” Juri asked carefully, not sure how to interpret Taiga’s silence.

Taiga put the kimono back and turned to Juri with a stern look. When he hit Juri on the chest the boy gasped out of surprise.

“That was for choosing such an expensive kimono,” Taiga replied and Juri looked a bit down, but then he got pulled into a hug. “And that is for going through the trouble to choose such a beautiful kimono for me!”

Those words made Juri relax right away and he hugged Taiga back.

“I'm so happy that you like it!”

“I'll wear it on my first work day I promise.”

Juri pulled back with a wide smile on hearing that.

“The customers will love it.”

“As long as you do it's enough.”


	9. Promises and Threats

The next day none of the boys had off either and Kochi was back at work as well. Juri and Reo had told Taiga that they could at least all take a bath later, but Taiga still had to spend some hours alone.

First he thought about going out, but the bruises on his neck were still quite visible and he doubted that he could already walk through their whole district. So he ended up in the garden again, but having enough from the back of the house he walked inside the front part. He was just wearing one of the usual yukatas, the green one which Juri had chosen and he was kind of happy to be almost invisible to the customers’ eyes like this. Without problems he was walking around the corridors, no one bothering with him.

“It's fine Kochi, you know that I know my way out,” someone was heard from the stairs where Taiga just wanted to pass by. Automatically he stopped to not collide with the customer who stepped down into the corridor the next moment.

“Oh, what a surprise the famous newbie.”

Taiga bowed towards the man who was maybe end of twenty, but maybe he also looked younger than he was. He was shorter than Taiga, but he was definitely stronger than him. The man wore a Kamishimo*₁  and the Katana on the side of his Hakama made clear that he was obviously a samurai.

“Not seeing a lot of those I think?” the other one let out with a smile as he followed Taiga’s look towards his Katana and Taiga bowed once more with an apologizing look for staring this intense. “Taiga is it, right?”

It wasn't that surprising that he knew his name and he nodded slowly. The latter stepped closer on which Taiga automatically held his breath. A scanning look hit him for quite a long time before the older one stepped back with an approving hum.

“Guess I know why he is interested in you. You are the type he falls for way too easily. Let's play when you start working!”

With a pat on the shoulder the latter left and Taiga blinked a few times before he turned and walked up the stairs. Now he was curious who the customer had been talking about. He hid at a corner seeing how Kochi walked inside another corridor. There was one open door and soon someone stepped out. So it had been Kentaro the customer had talked about. First he wanted to walk up to him, but then someone else stepped out of the room as well and Taiga’s look darkened when he saw Taisuke. So that customer had asked for both of them? Nothing unusual as Kentaro had explained before. But what was definitely unusual was Taisuke’s kimono, because until now he had just seen grey ones on him, this time it was red, bright red! Had he chosen this extra for this customer? Kentaro’s kimono was one he had seen before, the pink one with the flowers.

“You’re ruining the fun each time you are with us,” Taisuke complained on which Kentaro gave him a teasing smile.

“Do I hear jealousy there? It's not my fault that I'm his favorite. “

“Favorite? In your dreams,” Taisuke replied and suddenly he pulled Kentaro closer on the obi on which Taiga tensed. But Kentaro kept a calm expression even when Taisuke stepped way too close to call it personal space.

“But now that you got most of the fun today, I might want you to take care of my negligence later.”

Kentaro let out a low chuckle on that and lifted his hand to the latter’s cheek.

“The evening it is then.”

The invitation was more than obvious, but not logical to Taiga at all. When he looked at Taisuke the latter stared back at him. Again he had seen him, like he had a sensor for finding his hideouts. He gave him an almost mocking smile before he put one hand to Kentaro’s face and gave him a sudden kiss. Kentaro seemed a bit surprised, but responded nevertheless.

“Don't be late,” Taisuke let out against his lips before he walked away.

“Taiga, you seriously need better hideouts,” Kentaro scolded him as he turned around and faced him with his arms crossed to his chest.

Taiga walked up to him with an apologizing look.

“What are you doing here?”

“I was just wandering around.”

“Mh, okay and?”

“And?”

Kentaro rolled his eyes at him and Taiga bit his lip on the knowing look he received. “So what do you want to ask?”

“Isn't that obvious?” Taiga asked with a raised eyebrow, looking down the corridor where Taisuke had vanished around the corner.

“We had a customer together, I told you that is not uncommon.”

“And the conversation right now is also not uncommon?”

Kentaro gave him an understanding look, but then shook his head. “I know I told you to stay away from him, but let's say if you learn how to handle him he can be quite entertaining.”

It was obvious that Kentaro could tell that Taiga didn’t really understand how someone could deal with Taisuke in this way, but it wasn’t his place to butt in.

“If you think so,” was all he replied before he turned back to the stairs and Kentaro went to the first floor together with him.

“By the way was the customer a regular one?”

“Oh, did you see him?”

“He briefly talked to me when he left.”

That made a lopsided smile appear on Kentaro’s face and that was all he needed as an answer.

“So when he said let’s play the next time he really meant it,” Taiga said almost to himself and Kentaro gave him a chuckle.

“Don’t worry, Hiromitsu is Taisuke’s regular customer, but he loves to have his fun with others as well or add someone together with Taisuke.”

“I don’t want to have a threesome with him,” Taiga growled, but he knew that this wasn’t something he could choose.

“I bet Hiromitsu wants to have his fun with you alone first and maybe I can convince him to add me instead of Taisuke.”

“That would definitely make more sense, after all he said he realized that you are interested in me.”

When silence followed on that statement Taiga tilted his head in confusion, especially because of Kentaro’s questioning look.

“Ehm, I never said something like that to him though?”

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what that meant and while Taiga’s eyes went wide in confusion and shock, Kentaro’s look turned to teasing as he also understood.

“Wow, you seem to have had a huge impact on Taisuke. He would never talk with Hiromitsu about other boys if he wasn’t seriously interested.”

Why did Taiga’s stomach feel like turning on hearing that? Everyone had told him he can always say no if it’s about the members of the house, but somehow he had the feeling no matter what, Taisuke wouldn’t accept a no if he wanted to go for it.

He gulped nervously, but Kentaro clapped him supportive on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, he won’t just jump out of a corner and attack you, that’s no his style. But be careful that you don’t owe him anything or he will definitely use it against you!”

Taiga could just nod on that, because he had no idea on what Taisuke could be up to. Maybe he had to keep analyzing the latter as good as possible to stay safe on distance.

Kentaro left him alone as new customers entered the house and Taiga retreated to the back of the house.

Maybe he needed to just clear his head for a while, away from this new uncomfortable environment, but he definitely didn’t want to go out alone. But luckily he knew exactly the right company!

***

“Can we eat something here? Please? They have the best dangos around!”

“Reo, we are out for just two hours and you ate something at three shops already,” Juri scolded the younger one, while Taiga observed them with a smile.

Both boys had off and so Taiga had asked them if they wanted to join in for some time outside the house and both had agreed immediately. With their usual yukatas they looked like any other young adult and even though a few people around their district knew their faces Taiga didn’t feel bothered at all by a few looks. It was nothing compared to his ceremony after all.

Juri was wearing the light green yukata he had lent him before, while Reo’s choice was kind of questionable, but what wasn’t about this boy? His yukata was red with a black river on his back. The red was so bright that it was almost annoying to the eye and it could actually almost be called a work kimono instead, but the boy liked attention that was no secret after all. Taiga had chosen his green yukata with the black lines, because as much as he wanted to get a bit more confident and wear his more colorful yukata outside as well, he stuck to Juri’s ordinary style, because Reo was already colorful enough for all three of them.

“We are not in a hurry, right?” Taiga interfered when Reo started pouting on Juri’s parent like behavior. With a squeal the boy dashed towards the shop and Juri shook his head with a sigh.

“I feel like I have to watch out for my younger brother each time we go somewhere.”

“But he is a good boy, right? You don’t really seem annoyed by him.”

“Annoyed, not at all. Worried would be the right word I guess.”

Taiga nodded on that with a small chuckle, because who wouldn’t be worried for someone like Reo with his way too open and naive behavior? Not to forget that his past would make other people shut themselves away from the world, why he had opened up to a world which should normally be the scariest place to him.

“Here you go!” Reo announced proudly when he held out some dangos he had bought for Juri and Taiga. They took them with a grateful smile before Juri took a look around.

“Around that corner we will end up at the river, we can sit down there.”

They all agreed and moved over there and somehow Taiga was happy to find the riverbank not as high as before where they had first met Hikaru. The small benches which were placed close to the river were just about a meter higher than the river itself and the river wasn’t deep at all at this part of their district.

Reo jumped directly on one bench, the food he had bought already half shoved into his mouth and when he started coughing as he had swallowed way too much at once Juri patted his back, with a bit more force than needed.

“Didn’t I tell you so often already not to eat why you are still walking?”

“Now I am sitting, don’t I?”

“You call that sitting?”

The boy was crouching on the bench instead of properly sitting down, but all he did was giving Juri a played annoyed look on which the latter flicked his tongue and hit him on the head. “Such a brat, aren’t you.”

Taiga observed them with a calm look, happy that they had accompanied him. It was good to see how they could fight like siblings and talk normally to each other the next moment.

“You should eat as well,” Juri said as he sat down next to Taiga and the boy nodded, taking a bite of the dangos.

“Is it that good?” Juri asked kind of amused on Taiga’s face as he smiled before taking another bite.

“I don’t know to be honest. I’ve never eaten them before.”

“What? Not even once?”

Taiga shook his head and his look darkened a bit. “Even the food we have in the house is way better than everything I’ve ever eaten before.”

“Wow, then I should stop complaining how bad our food is,” Reo said teasingly and succeeded in brightening up the mood a bit.

“As long as you don’t ask to get sweets every day you can complain as much as you want, but trust me Kamenashi will kick you out if you get fat and round through all the sweet stuff you’re shoving into you!”

“Me and getting fat? Come on I am almost the same wandering skeleton as you.”

“But just almost,” Taiga entered the teasing on which Juri shot them both a scolding look.

“Maybe I should leave you to your teasing for a while,” Juri said as he stood up and Taiga gave him a worried look, fearing that he had actually made him angry.

“I will just get us something to drink,” Juri explained immediately.

“Let me help you, I remember the last time you tried to bring three cups alone,” Reo continued his teasing on which Juri growled at him dangerously. “Hey, it was you after all who emptied those cups over Hokuto’s head that time, remember? You want the same to happen to Taiga?”

“Fine, whatever,” Juri replied and put his food down on the bench. “We will be back in a minute, feel free to eat mine as well.”

“That’s exactly why you are so thin!” Reo said on which Juri turned around and tried to hit him, but Reo jumped back and ran away when Juri dashed after him. Taiga looked after them with a bright smile before he finished his food, but he would leave the rest for Juri, after all Reo was right.

Lost in his thoughts he stared at the river for a while, before he got up and walked a bit alongside it. There were some carps in it, coming closer to the edge when Taiga crouched down next to them.

“Sorry guys, I have nothing for you,” Taiga said apologizing as he moved his hand over the water.

“Shall I kick you in? Then maybe they can eat you?”

Taiga looked up over his shoulder on the sound of an unknown voice and he found two boys standing behind him.

A joke that was how it had sounded, but the face of the boy who had obviously said it was not in any way showing a smile. He had his arms crossed to the chest and stared down at Taiga as if he was his worst enemy. He was wearing a yellow yukata with green triangles, while the boy behind him was wearing a casual grey one. They were both taller than Taiga, which he realized when he slowly got up and turned towards them with a slightly worried expression.

“I prefer to stay dry today,” Taiga replied in a calm voice on which the boy in front of him showed him a dangerous smile. His hair was hanging in long strands in his eyes, while the other boy had slightly wavy and short hair.

“Do you know who I am?”

On the latter’s question Taiga shook his head, after all he hadn’t seen any of the boys before. When his look fell on the other one in the back he saw that he walked over to the bench and sat down before lifting up the dangos Juri had left behind.

“Hey, that’s not yours,” Taiga complained as the boy took a bite from it without even asking. But when Taiga wanted to walk up to him the boy in front of him put a hand on his shoulder and held him back.

“How about you learn how to share, after all I shared something with you already as well.”

“What are you even talking about?” Taiga growled at the later in annoyance and his tone made the other one raise an eyebrow.

“You are quite offensive for someone who just had his ceremony. Did Hikaru go that easy on you?”

First Taiga wanted to shot back at him that he was the offensive one, but on the realization that he knew his buyer he halted before replying.

“How do you know about my buyer?”

After all the system was made in a way that it wasn’t easy to find out who had bought him. It was to protect both, the boys and the buyers.

“Why don’t you try and guess?”

“I am not here to play games with you,” Taiga shot back and passed him this time, ripping the remaining food out of the other one’s hands and put it back on the bench. “I am waiting for someone so would you mind leaving me alone?”

The boy on the bench just formed a teasing smile on that and stood up, but didn’t approach Taiga. Instead the boy with the longer hair walked up to him again and pushed him a bit to the back when Taiga turned towards him.

“Are you now also getting demanding?”

Taiga couldn’t say why, but the boy gave him the same vibes as when he talked to Taisuke and he didn’t like it at all.

“Are you deaf? I don’t even know you and here you come and think you can push me around? If you are impolite I can be as well.”

“Such a confidence,” the other one let out in a dark voice before he stepped closer to Taiga again, but this time Taiga slashed away his hand before he could push him. After all they were already standing quite close to the river.

“Hands off,” Taiga growled warningly on which the second boy stepped closer as well and for a moment Taiga wasn’t sure if he was in serious trouble.

“SURPRISE ATTACK!”

Out of nowhere Reo jumped at the long haired boy and Juri pushed the other one to the side as well, resulting in both of them falling into the river. Reo was laughing like a child after playing a prank before he turned to Taiga and grabbed his hand.

“Let’s go!”

First Taiga was still way too confused to realize what was going on. When he looked back he saw both boys getting out of the water again and shouting loud curses after them, but they were already too far away for them to catch up.

“Reo, you know that Myuto will kill you for this the next time he sees you, right?” Juri asked worried while he ran after him and Taiga.

“Wouldn’t be the first time he tries,” Reo replied teasingly before he dashed around a corner where he finally slowed down and released Taiga’s wrist. “I doubt they will catch up, but let’s keep moving.”

“Wait, can someone explain to me what just happened? Who were they?” Taiga asked in confusion, but Juri kept pushing him so that he would keep walking before he explained anything.

“The boy with the long hair is called Myuto, the other one is one of his friends his name is Hagi. They are from another house at the end of the district.”

“Wait, there are other houses like ours?”

“Just ours and theirs,” Reo explained briefly.

“But they seemed to know me?”

“Of course they do, we also know when they get a new one for a ceremony,” Juri said.

“But he talked about Hikaru as well, how did he know my buyer’s name?”

“Because he lets himself get fucked by him,” Reo replied a bit too directly and Taiga blinked at him in confusion before it clicked.

“Wait, Hikaru is a regular customer at the other house?”

“Myuto’s regular customer to be more precisely,” Juri let out with a nod.

“But don’t worry, even though he is grumpy now he won’t keep going after you. He treats Hikaru like his own boyfriend, even though we are of course not allowed to see them that way. So in the end he will just have to deal with the fact that his oh so beloved Hikaru played with someone else.”

Taiga wasn’t actually calming down through that explanation, but there was nothing he could actually do about the problem. There was no way he would lock himself in the house just because Myuto could be out there waiting with some beating for him.

But then another realization made Taiga stop and turn to Juri so quick that the boy almost ran into him. “You knew who he was when we met Hikaru the first time?”

“No I didn’t,” Juri immediately explained. “It was Reo who realized who he was at the ceremony and he told us about him and Myuto later that evening. We didn’t tell you to not worry you.”

“We are usually not telling the boys of the other house about our regular customers, but Myuto runs around with Hikaru in the district as if they were married, so it’s not actually a secret,” Reo replied casually.

“Well, anyways, I’d say we should maybe head back for today?” Juri suggested and Taiga was definitely up for that as he already started moving towards their house’s direction. Reo seemed a bit down, but Taiga was sure that his mood would switch back to hyper in no time. He didn’t seem like the type of person to get affected by bad happenings easily.

***

The evening was quiet and while the other boys had somehow ended up busy with helping Kentaro out with some things in the front of the house even though it had been their day off, Taiga headed for the bath.

When he went in two of his senpais were getting ready to leave and he politely bowed to them and stepped out of the way. Just when they closed the door Taiga realized that he had automatically held his breath. There were so many people in the house he still didn’t know much about, so that each time he ended up alone with someone he got nervous.

Nevertheless he went over to the washing places to get clean. He didn’t actual plan on staying long, so he entered the bath just for a few minutes to warm up his body before he stepped out again.

The moment he wanted to walk over to the shelf the door opened again and this time Taiga didn’t just froze, but also wanted to vanish into thin air right on the spot as Taisuke stepped inside the room.

He of course spotted Taiga immediately, but he didn’t say anything. Instead he walked over to the shelf and took off his work kimono. A grey, almost boring kimono, like always. But Taiga found his eyes glued on it anyways when Taisuke let it slide down his shoulders. Sure his senpai’s build was also of the slim time as himself, but his body was more structured. He could clearly see the small, yet detailed muscles around his shoulders. When Taisuke put his hair up into a ponytail Taiga found his eyes tracking his neck and before he could react he found Taisuke staring back at him over his shoulder.

“Like what you see?”

Taiga lowered his eyes immediately with an embarrassed hawk. Inside his head he was cursing at himself for acting this stupid. Why would he even look?

He flinched when Taisuke snapped his fingers in front of his face. He hadn’t even realized that he had walked up to him and automatically Taiga made a step back and tried to cover his body a bit with his arms.

“Okay, you know this is getting ridiculous,” Taisuke scolded him before he made another step to the front, but this time Taiga couldn’t step away any further or he would end up falling backwards into the bath. “Boy, where do you think we are?”

“In the bath?” Taiga asked a bit scared that his answer was actually stupid and his senpai would get angry at him.

“Exactly, so what do you think will happen in here?”

Before Taiga replied this time his look darkened and he shot his senpai an evil glare. “If you are just here to mock me then go on and do what people usually do in a bath,” Taiga replied sharply, because what were those stupid children questions for?

Taiga wanted to make a step to the side and leave the bath, but this time Taisuke grabbed him by the upper arm and stopped him. When he pulled him back a bit Taiga could feel how panic rose in him, but he still tried to keep calm, even as Taisuke’s face was already way too close to his ear when he spoke again.

“You are mocking yourself, there is no need for me to do so. Panicking each time I show up, even if we are in the bath? I wonder what the others have told you about me or what you have misinterpreted about what you’ve heard.”

This time Taiga looked away a bit ashamed of his reaction, because wasn’t he right? There had been people in here before as well and it was just a matter of time until other boys would enter. So what did he expect to happen?

“If you want your life in this house to work out you should maybe start learning a bit more about its members.” Finally he released the boy again, but he still remained close to him and suddenly leant a bit closer on which Taiga gave him a warning look.

“Let me make this clear, I like playing and trust me I am good in winning games, but I never play unfair.”

With a lopsided smile Taisuke turned away from him and Taiga needed a moment longer to finally snap out of it and hurry out of the bath.

Back in the corridor he needed a moment to calm down, but this time it wasn’t actually panic which made his heart beat that fast. Was he actually getting used to having Taisuke around? Or even worse, did he actually find it interesting, somehow challenging? Shocked by his own thoughts he shook his head and hurried back upstairs. He shouldn’t even spend Taisuke any attention at all, but Kentaro’s words were making that a bit difficult.

“He can be quite interesting if you know how to deal with him…” Taiga repeated the boy’s words, but scolded himself for getting distracted. There were so many things he needed to worry about from now on, so many challenges to overcome, why would he bother with playing a game his opponent would win for sure?

Maybe the question was if he minded losing the game in the end?

 

___

*₁ Kamishimo: traditional two part clothes for men, worn by social high ranked people and also as ceremony clothes for samurai


	10. Learning the basics

Taiga had learnt by now to ignore the noises in the morning when everyone got ready for work. What he still needed to figure out though was how to not get kicked by Juri at night, but the boy left for work as well in the morning so Taiga decided to just keep sleeping.

The problem was just that it wouldn’t work as he wanted. After all it was the last day before his official work began and he felt everything but ready. Sure he had managed to get through his ceremony, but what now? Could he just keep going like this? It wasn’t like he could refuse, but that didn’t mean he was ready for what was coming out of the blue. One night in which he had succeeded to keep calm and also enjoy things in the end, even though it got quite rough at some point. That was at least something, but what if his first customer was a special case? Or the customer after that? How was he supposed to act around them? There were so many questions and still he hadn’t found the courage to ask someone for advice. Kentaro had explained a lot to him already, but he had more the learning by doing opinion, so there was no way he would run after him and throw his entire questions at him.

The one he could speak to the easiest was Juri, but somehow that was also the reason why he didn’t want to bother the boy. Juri was somehow different. He didn’t want the boy to feel uncomfortable and that made him refrain from any inappropriate topic.

With a sigh he gave up on falling asleep again and turned around on his futon, opening his eyes to check how bright it was in the room already, but when it was a face right in front of his which was the first thing he saw he squealed out of surprise and shifted back.

“Damn it, Reo. You scared the hell out of me!” Taiga scolded him immediately, but the boy had already brought out into a resounding laughter, rolling on his back. “Sorry, but I didn’t want to disturb your sleep.”

“So instead you are watching me like a stalker?”

“I was just observing. So how are you feeling?”

“Don’t you have work today? You had off yesterday already.”

Reo shrugged his shoulders on that and sat up, Taiga following his example. “Sometimes we can ask for two days in a row, you know like Juri when he went with you to get the kimono.”

“Wait, does that mean your day off has something to do with me?”

The lopsided smile on Reo’s face made clear that yes it definitely had something to do with him. The question was just if everyone knew about it or if Reo had decided this on his own, after all the boy was known for his spontaneous ideas.

“That depends on how you are feeling.”

“How I am- Oh, you mean…?” Taiga didn’t know exactly how to end his sentence, but Reo seemed to understand and he just nodded. “I guess I feel okay, I hope. I am not sure, but I think we will know tomorrow.”

“Perfect, then come on,” Reo said and suddenly dragged Taiga up on his wrist and walked towards the door.

“Wait, where are we going? We aren’t even dressed properly!”

“Oh don’t worry, you won’t need any clothes.”

“What? Reo, what are you up to?”

Instead of a reply there was a chuckle when Reo turned towards him and gave him a wink. “You’ll see soon enough.”

Reo dragged him through the corridors downstairs, but they remained in the back of the house. When they entered a room which was at the end of the house where Taiga hadn’t entered until now he wondered if it was a private room, because it looked like one. A futon was prepared as well, but somehow the room looked kind of unused.

“This room is free for all of us to use. Normally it’s just something like a spare room, but it rarely gets used for someone to stay,” Reo explained, obviously knowing Taiga’s question already.

“Then for what…” when Taiga could answer his own question already he intuitively made a step back and shook his head. “No Reo!”

Even though he complained, Reo dragged him further into the room and slid the door closed. Taiga finally ripped his wrist out of the other one’s grip and crossed his arms to his chest. “Did you really think I would just agree to this?”

“I haven’t even explained anything yet.”

“You don’t have to, I am leaving!”

“Wait,” Reo almost begged him and blocked the door, but Taiga got angry already.

“I haven’t even started working regularly yet and you already want the first round? Don’t you think your way of handling this is a bit rude?”

“That’s why I want you to let me explain first,” Reo replied patiently. It took Taiga a bit by surprise how calm the boy acted while he normally was so hyper. So in the end Taiga let out a sigh and stepped back. “Well, then go on.”

“Okay, so you start working tomorrow. Well, you had your ceremony and that was definitely helpful to understand what is going to await you from here and Kentaro also gave you some explanations, but are you sure you know how to handle situations which you are not used to?”

“What exactly do you mean?”

It was maybe Taiga’s curious tone which made Reo dare to take a step closer and stretch out his arm towards Taiga’s hip and when the latter didn’t complain about the touch Reo stepped even closer. “This is something you can handle, right?”

Taiga didn’t need to nod, because his look should tell Reo the answer already. So Reo went on not waiting for a reply. Slowly he walked around Taiga, letting his hands explore the boy’s body above the yukata until he stood behind him and stroke the hair out of Taiga’s neck, pressing a sudden kiss on the skin. Taiga closed his eyes on the cold touch, but he still didn’t complain.

“Someone touching you, kissing you, undressing you…” Reo said when he let his hands slip down to Taiga’s obi to open it. “All things you are used to now.”

It wasn’t like Taiga would actually call it used to, but yes he could at least handle it. He had to after all. No matter if it was Reo or someone he didn’t know at all.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s this way,” Reo whispered against his ear as he slowly took the yukata from Taiga’s shoulders and let it slide to the ground before he changed positions with Taiga and made the boy fall down on the futon, sitting on top of him. “Or this way around.”

Taiga kept staring at the younger one as Reo got rid of his own yukata as well. Even though he had complained earlier that he didn’t agree on this he didn’t feel like stopping the boy now. Reo definitely knew how to make people excited, no wonder he loved his job so much.

“But what if it’s something new? Something you haven’t experienced yet?” Reo asked as he suddenly pulled Taiga back up into a sitting position and the boy looked a bit confused when Reo changed positions with him. “What if you have to top?”

“What? Why would someone let me top?”

“Remember, our customers are not just men and even they sometimes want you to top. If it’s a woman you have to learn how to entertain them. How to make them feel like they are in control, even though you are the one doing the work.”

So now Taiga understood what he was up to, but realizing that Reo was right made him feel nervous and he wanted to sit back, but Reo lifted his legs, making him fall to the front with his hands next to his head.

“Don’t hesitate. I am here for you to be able to try things out. I can help you if you want, but I’d say it’s better for you to go through this intuitively first. Who knows maybe you won’t have a female customer for some time, but you could also have someone tomorrow already. Don’t make them feel uncomfortable through your hesitation.”

“Easier said than done,” Taiga whispered, not sure how to act at all. After all, this situation had happened out of nowhere and here Reo wanted him to act through this without any doubts. But on the other hand the boy was right, better messing it up with Reo once and being able to get some advice from him, before actually getting scolded for messing up with a customer.

With an almost shy expression Taiga dared to move a bit closer on his own and luckily Reo wasn’t the type to show a teasing expression when it came down to such intimate moments, otherwise Taiga wouldn’t be able to go through this, he was sure of it. First he wondered if he was even allowed to take the lead in anything at all, because after all kissing and touching should normally be decided by the customer. But on the other hand Kentaro had also explained that there were people who liked it to get entertained, so for now he just saw Reo as one of those kinds of customers. After all Reo would tell him if he messed up somewhere.

Still a little bit hesitant Taiga moved one hand around the back of the boy’s neck before he leant in for a slow kiss. Not knowing a customer meant careful approach as long as he wouldn’t get told how to move or how to act.

He could feel how Reo suppressed a smile, but that made Taiga deepen the kiss instead of keeping it slow. Something Reo obviously liked, because he closed his legs around Taiga’s hips and pulled him closer.

Soon the lead of the kiss switched to Reo as the boy lifted his hands and buried them in the long strands of Taiga’s hair, pulling here and there as he dared his tongue out.

When Taiga moved his hand away from the boy’s neck down over his back to his butt Reo let out a low moan in the kiss and Taiga felt how he actually got excited about the situation. Sure it would still be difficult for him to deal the right way with a customer, especially with a woman he had to figure out the touching part differently, but there he had to go with Kentaro’s learning by doing strategy, not that he wasn’t actually doing that one at the moment already.

Taiga wanted to pull back to be able to shift is position, but Reo had become a bit too clingy, making it hard for Taiga to even break the kiss, so he went with another strategy, taking Reo by full surprise when he bit him. With a hiss the boy pulled away and the confused expression on his face was priceless and finally made Taiga smile.

“What’s that look for? Don’t tell me no one had bitten you until now?”

“Oh trust me biting is one of the most harmless things people do to me, but wow I’ve not expected you having such a kink.”

“It’s not a kink! You said I should try things out, right? So that’s all I am doing,” Taiga pouted.

“Oh, so you didn’t bite Hikaru?” Reo asked with a knowing expression on which Taiga hit him on the forehead. “Look, I knew it! Believe it or not, but things like this easily turn into a habit. Just be careful with customers which don’t like it. They might hit you for it.”

A warning Taiga should definitely keep in mind. Getting too excited himself could make the customers angry and that was something he definitely didn’t need. He had still enough from his punishment after making Kentaro’s customer angry at him. He didn’t need to repeat the same mistake twice.

“So are you not sure how to get going with this or are you just enjoying the foreplay that much?”

Taiga was close to hitting Reo for that stupid question. After all it wasn’t like this had been Taiga’s idea. But he couldn’t deny that he felt a bit lost, because no matter how much he wanted to act as if he knew what he was doing, he indeed had no clue.

But the more he thought about something like a plan the more he felt insecure so he just gave up on something like a strategy before Reo could come with another smartass comment.

It obviously took Reo by surprise when Taiga shifted his weight and used his knees to spread Reo’s legs. But when he thought back at his ceremony he automatically wanted to add a step, which Hikaru had just skipped. When he moved one hand down to Reo’s crotch though, the boy took a hold on it.

“Okay for starters, most customers are not coming here the first time, so make sure to find out if this is necessary or not, otherwise they might scold you for not being able to read the atmosphere and now it’s me and trust me you will just bore both of us if you take your time with unnecessary preparations.”

At least that statement was something Taiga fully understood and he couldn’t actually find a reason to disagree. After all Reo and the other boys were used to this for a long time already, he couldn’t compare himself to them in this case.

“Fine, as you wish,” Taiga replied before he shifted once more and suddenly he felt even more nervous, after all he wasn’t even sure how to move. Sure he could recall a lot from Hikaru, but he was on the other side this time and the fact that Reo was also used to this made him hesitate again.

“You know if you have the feeling things aren’t working out, you just have to make the customer do the work for you,” Reo explained on which Taiga tilted his head. Before he could ask for an explanation though Reo suddenly pushed himself up and pushed Taiga to the back, down on the futon so that he was sitting on top of him. “Like this,” he whispered next to Taiga’s ear before he took a hold on Taiga’s erection and lowered himself on him.

There was a small gasp from Taiga, but he bit his lip right away when he saw Reo’s teasing look on that reaction. With a firm grip Reo guided Taiga’s hands to his hips so that he could feel his hip movements.

“A move like this makes them feel in control. You just have to make sure that you are not ordering them into doing it. Make them want to be on top and do the work.”

“Not showing hesitation, but being a bit vulnerable is ok?” Taiga asked with a teasing expression on which Reo gave him a proud smile. “A quick learner.”

On that Taiga rocked his hips upwards making Reo let out a low moan, but he wasn’t easily thrown out of balance and he adjusted his movements.

As much as Reo wanted Taiga to believe that this was just to help him it was more than obviously how much he had waited for a chance to actually find a fitting moment to get through with this way too well thought through plan. But Taiga couldn’t actually be angry, because after all he had promised Reo some private time after the ceremony, not that it had actually had to be that soon after it, but at least Reo was fair enough to let him top, at least for this time.

Reo had succeeded in making Taiga switch a bit into competition mode and also make him feel a bit more confident. The rest was up to Taiga’s ability of observing people and figuring out how to act around all the different kinds of customers.

And who knew maybe Reo had a few more tips for him over the day, after all this room wouldn’t actually be used by someone else soon.

***

It was the teasing smile on Juri’s face which made it obvious that he knew exactly what had happened.

“I swear if you keep looking at me like this I might snap,” Taiga growled at him while he put all his kimonos on the floor to decide which one to wear on his first day of work. After spending way too much time with Reo in the room downstairs the day before and trying out things which brought him to his embarrassment limits Taiga had pretended to be asleep already when Hokuto and Juri came back. But now that it was the morning of his first work day he couldn’t actually hide from them. Not that Hokuto was interested in anything they were doing, but he was sure the boy had noticed as well and who wouldn’t with Reo acting all hyper since the morning.

Hokuto had been up first, already in his kimono when the rest of them got up. This time it was a brighter one than usual. The main color was black, but the pattern was spread over the full length, silver and white circles, forming to something looking similar to snowflakes.

Reo had tried to wait until Taiga would leave as well, but Juri had scolded him for making Taiga even more nervous, because after all the boy couldn’t actually read the atmosphere that well and no matter how much he had actually helped Taiga before, he couldn’t take away his nervousness, but Juri could! Somehow Taiga felt always calm around him and so he was thankful as Juri made Reo leave first. The boy had pouted for a while as he got in his white kimono with yellow and red flower pattern. Like a spiral they went over the full length of the kimono up to the sleeves. The golden obi made it look even more stylish. Not that it was real gold as they weren't allowed to add gold or silver in any of their clothes, but Tegoshi knew how to make up for that.

Juri had also made sure to get dressed before he helped Taiga with his choice. He wore the half red, half blue one he had seen before, with the dark blue obi.

“Then let’s better get you to work so you can distract yourself. You can still snap at me in the evening,” Juri let out a bit teasingly as he sat down next to Taiga. “So which one will you take for your first workday?”

“I promised you I’d wear the one you bought for me, remember?”

But even though he said that, Taiga let out a sigh and Juri put his hand on his shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. There is no one who walks out there without being worried at first. Okay no one except for Reo.”

That statement actually made a brief smile appear on Taiga’s face before he concentrated back on his kimonos. He intuitively touched the one Juri bought him, but hesitated to lift it up.

“I know that look. Don’t worry, you don’t have to wear it just because you said you would. Especially not now that you are still that nervous. Just choose the one you feel most comfortable with.”

Too much attention was what Taiga wanted to avoid on his first day so slowly he stretched his arm out to the black kimono with the red dots. He lifted it up with a questioning look towards Juri and the boy nodded with a bright smile. “Good choice. Then come on, let’s not be late.”

Juri helped him in the kimono and when they had closed the red obi they made their way to the front of the house.

Their first stop was greeting Kamenashi and the owner seemed to approve of Taiga’s kimono choice after a scanning look. The man was sitting with his cigarette at the table, so it didn’t look like he would actually guide Taiga through anything on this day, but after a moment someone slid the door to the side and bowed before entering. To Taiga’s relief it was Kentaro and not Taisuke, because he had already guessed that at least one senpai would be around for his first day.

“Make sure that things won’t get too chaotic for today,” Kamenashi addressed all three of them before he allowed them to leave.

“You somehow don’t seem as rested as you should after a week off. Did you do anything exhausting yesterday?” Kentaro asked with an honestly worried expression and Juri escaped a chuckle on which Taiga hit his elbow against his ribs as they walked down the corridor.

“Okay...I guess I shouldn’t ask,” Kentaro said with a knowing look and to Taiga’s relief it didn’t seem like they would get scolded for anything. After all he knew already that it was common for a few of the boys to have their things going on in the back of the house. Not to forget that he had actually seen Taisuke and Kentaro being up to exactly the same before.

When they made it to the entrance they saw how Kochi guided a customer inside, Reo walking by his side.

“Unbelievable, he went into the windowsill for what, 5 minutes? And he already got a new customer. This boy should get an award for his work,” Kentaro let out teasingly.

“Are you sure you’re not talking about yourself?” Juri teased back on which Kentaro gave him a scolding look. “What? You know it’s true! The only reason you are almost never in the windowsill is that you have enough regular customers to not have to go up there anymore.”

“It’s not like Reo wouldn’t have enough either, but we all know that he uses every free minute to get a new customer.”

“He has a pretty good stamina that is for sure.”

Taiga shut up right away when he realized how that had sounded, but both boys had turned towards him with knowing looks already.

“Okay, so let’s get you two in the windowsill,” Kentaro changed the topic immediately. After all they were at work and supposed to get customers and not have a small talk in the corridor and stand in the way. “Taiga you know the basic rules already, so don’t freak yourself out now.”

Easier said than done, but all Taiga could do was nodding before he followed Juri around the corner behind the red bars. For his ceremony it had been prepared for him to be able to walk along the whole length of it, but now there were several pillows on the ground, some boys already sitting alongside the windowsill and of course some people were walking by, some of them getting closer and taking closer looks. Some of the boys even sat closer to the bars to be able to talk to the people or let them touch their hands and arms.

“Relax, okay?” Juri said in a calm voice when he pointed towards the pillow next to him and they both sat down. Kentaro hadn’t come up with them, but he was still watching from the back, because he needed to make sure that things wouldn’t get out of hand at the first time or that Taiga wouldn’t mess up. He felt nauseous since the morning, he hadn’t even been able to eat anything and that made it even harder for him to act calm.

“Don’t sit that stiff, it’s not like you have to sit straight and stare outside the whole time,” Juri said as he let himself drop to the side and rest his head on his elbow. For a moment Taiga thought he would get scolded by Kentaro for what he was doing, but then he realized that the other boys were also sitting or half lying on the pillows as if they were actually taking a break instead of working.

“You know, the moment you see someone outside who seems interested that is when the work starts! Pay them attention, make them come closer, that is the main part. But until then you don’t have to behave like a hawk on the hunt.”

“I feel more like the people outside are the hunters,” Taiga whispered while observing the people passing by. Some weren’t even spending them any attention, after all there were some other houses as well and most of the people coming here were going to those which had the girls sitting in the windowsills. When Taiga saw two women pointing at their house he looked away immediately, on which Juri gave him an understanding, yet scolding look.

“Remember what you said at the ceremony? You are no sheep, so even if the customers are the wolves, they won’t have anything to eat.”

Right he had said that before, but his level of confidence was changing every few minutes now.

“For now, would you finally sit a bit more relaxed? You are making me feel bad,” Juri said a bit teasingly on which Taiga finally moved out of his stiff and upright position and let his knees slid a bit to the side so that he wouldn’t sit straight on them as if he needed to be ready to bow to someone any second. “Way better, so let me make this a bit easier for you. What is the difference between your Ceremony and now?”

“What exactly do you mean?” Taiga asked a bit confused on which Juri sat up a bit again and pointed outside towards the street.

“You were nervous at your Ceremony as well, but you got a grip. What stops you from staying calm now?”

“Maybe that I have no control over the situation?” Taiga said in a low voice. “You know, at the ceremony I could still somehow at least try and influence the buyers. Now I feel a bit helpless.”

“And here is your mistake!” Juri let out to Taiga’s surprise. The boy chuckled before he looked over to a few other boys and pointed at them. “Look at what they are doing.”

Taiga didn’t understand at first, because they were actually all behaving differently. One sitting back and not spending the people outside so much attention, while there were actually people looking at him. Another boy had eye contact with a man who was still quite far away, but moved closer through the intense stare he received and that was when Taiga’s expression changed.

“You understand now?” Juri asked and Taiga nodded.

“I still have influence on the customers’ reaction.”

“Exactly! You don’t want someone to get interested in you? Ignore them, try to let someone else get them interested or focus on someone else to make that person your next customer. You have a lot of possibilities to interact with them. You are in no way helpless. This time you can actually call this a game.”

“A game…” Taiga remembered how he had gotten in a fight with Hokuto over this topic, but maybe this time he was actually allowed to see things a bit more relaxed? After all that was what everyone was telling him?

“Want to try your luck or shall I go first?”

“If you dare leave me alone I am going to drown you later in the bath!”

A bright smile appeared on Juri’s face on that statement and Taiga had to suppress a laugh as well and he put his hand up to his mouth to hide his smile. When Juri made a small movement with his head towards the bars Taiga looked towards the street and he found some people looking at them. So it was actually possible to get their attention without even trying. The question was just if he wanted them to get more interested or not, so carefully he scanned the people which had stopped walking. He couldn’t see any potential dangerous people, but he knew he was far away from Hokuto’s ability to tell that for sure.

There was a young man, maybe still a boy like him, but formally dressed in a black expensive looking kimono, staring at him and somehow he seemed a bit shy so Taiga took his hand a bit lower to give him a faint smile on which the boy actually looked away, which made Taiga’s smile grew a bit bigger. The effect on that was incredible, because it seemed like the boy couldn’t resist looking back at him even though he obviously didn’t come to Yoshiwara that often, maybe it was even his first time coming? His shy reaction made Taiga switch even more into some kind of playing mood and he moved his hand up to his under lip and brushed over it while keeping a faint smile. The boy’s eyes were glued to his lips now and Taiga knew that he had to decide fast now what to do. If he looked over to Juri now maybe the other one would just take the chance and run away in embarrassment. Taking the opportunity Taiga stretched one arm out and pointed at the boy, before he made a movement with his pointer finger, signaling him to come closer. To his surprise he actually did! Like a puppet he followed his order and Taiga dared to crawl a bit to the front, off his pillow and even though he was sure that he would like to hit Juri at the moment, because he just knew how teasing his look was, he stayed focused until the boy was right in front of the bars. Now that he could take a closer look it seemed like the boy was even younger than Taiga, but the clothes definitely made him look older than he was.

“Your first time here?” Taiga asked with a luring voice, suddenly feeling like a siren. The boy nodded, the mix of shyness and obvious interest making it hard for Taiga to not smile even more. “What’s your name?”

Taiga had been told by Kentaro that they were allowed to ask as many personal questions as they wanted, after all it was the customers’ decision if they wanted to reply or not.

“Aran,” the boy replied without any hesitation.

“Nice to meet you Aran. I am Taiga.” Taiga said without giving any more details, because after all the boy could ask, right? Somehow he wanted him to crawl a bit out of his shell, because he could see that there was definitely a lot hidden behind that insecurity. “Do you want to come inside?”

There was of course some hesitation and the boy’s eyes went to the ground and Taiga wanted to reach through the bars to make him look up again, because he was more than sure that he would definitely love to come in, but just needed another small push. But before he could move something got hit against the bars right in front of his face and with a surprised yelp he fell to the back, even more confused when Juri stopped his fall. The boy had obviously observed them the whole time and had seen the other person approaching while Taiga was busy.

“What are you doing? We are not here to play around!” The older man who had appeared next to Aran scolded the boy and he stepped back with an apologizing look before he bowed to the other person.

Taiga’s look first fell on the weapon the man had in his hand and which he had hit against the bars before. It was a Jutte*₁ which made Taiga scan the man’s clothes and his suspicions got confirmed right away as he saw the navy colored hakama and the blue shirt with the brown obi. The man was a police officer and Taiga immediately turned towards Juri, asking in silence if he was in trouble now, but Juri gave him a soothing look. Also the fact that Kentaro hadn’t jumped into the windowsill made clear that nothing bad would actually happen, at least not to Taiga, because the boy didn’t look as calm as before.

“Get moving or we will be late!”

With a disgusted look the man turned away from the boys and pushed Aran along the street. The boy gave Taiga an apologizing look before he obediently kept walking.

“What was that?” Taiga asked perplex as the situation had calmed down a bit and they both sat down on their pillows again.

“Nothing uncommon here in this area to be honest,” Juri explained. “I guess Aran is the son of that police officer and he will join the police office in our district from today that is why they are here.”

“His father doesn’t seem to approve of our business, is it a good idea to let his son work around here?”

“Hey like this you will get a chance to meet him again. Now that you’ve got his attention once already it would be a waste to not use the chance the next time you see him,” Juri said with a wink on which Taiga raised an eyebrow at him.

“The next time I see him he will come in his uniform and I bet we don’t need trouble with the police.”

“Oh, don’t worry, it’s not like they are forbidden to enter here, at least not as long they are not on patrol.”

Taiga couldn’t actually explain why he felt kind of challenged hearing that, but somehow the boy had drawn his interest, so who knows maybe he would come back after all and that not just for a patrol.

“Do you want to take a break or are you okay?” Juri asked a bit more serious this time, but Taiga shook his head immediately.

“It’s okay, I just got a bit startled, that’s all.”

“Then how about we make a challenge out of this?” Juri said as he sat a bit to the front.

“What do you mean?”

“Let’s see who gets a customer first?”

At first Taiga wanted to complain that he had already said he didn’t want Juri to leave him alone, but somehow he suddenly felt the right amount of excitement to be able to handle this alone even if Juri won the challenge and left first.

“Can I brag about it if I win?” Taiga asked with a lopsided smile on which Juri laughed.

“You can try, but I guess as long as you don’t win such a challenge against Kentaro or Reo there is nothing to brag about.”

“Mh, fine, I guess I will be happy enough for now when I win against you.”

“When? Wow, you got one boy come close to the house and your confidence overflows. Guess I’ve to show you how this work gets done by a pro.”

Taiga had to chuckle as Juri stretched like he would actually get ready to fight someone, but he couldn’t deny that he somehow couldn’t imagine Juri to even be seductive enough to get some customers interested if they didn’t intend to enter the house anyway. But maybe he would surprise him so for now he took the challenge and went into some kind of battle mode. His first workday was definitely way more fun than he had imagined.

 

+++

*₁ Jutte: special police weapon without a sharp blade


	11. Playtime

It wasn’t like Taiga hadn’t tried to get someone else’s attention, but somehow there weren’t many people on the street anyway, after all it was barely noon by now and it was a busy weekday. Nevertheless had he lost the challenge about half an hour ago when Juri had made a beautiful young lady come inside the house. The fact that he won the challenge didn’t get to Taiga that much, but still he felt a weird sting when Juri left the windowsill and walked inside the building with the young woman, Kochi guiding them to their room. Of course Juri had given him a teasing look, but Taiga had just rolled his eyes. Why was he so pissed when he actually didn’t give a damn about the challenge in the first place? Lost in his thoughts he let some time path while not spending anyone outside attention until another boy left the windowsill next to him and he snapped out of his daydreams.

When he realized that the boys around him were changing all the time even though there weren’t that many customers he felt a bit left behind. It wasn’t like he would mind if he didn’t get any customers, but what would happen if he wouldn’t? Even Hokuto, who had sat on the other end of the windowsill, hadn’t been there for a long time. Would they kick him out of Yoshiwara if he didn’t make any money for the house? What other place was there for him to go if he failed here? His thoughts gave him a slight headache and he wondered if he was allowed to take a break, but he couldn’t see Kentaro anywhere, after all the boy couldn’t just stand around the whole day and see how he was doing. With a sigh Taiga turned back to the window before he took a deep breath.

“One more try,” he whispered before he turned his attention back to the street. If he didn’t find anyone right away he would leave the windowsill to ask Kentaro or another senpai if he could take a break.

People were walking past, a lot of them busy, not spending the house any attention. Those which did looked at other boys or went inside, knowing who they would choose already. With an almost annoyed look Taiga leaned a bit back and let his eyes wander away from all the people walking past and stared straight ahead, towards the building across of theirs.

Finding someone leaning against that building with his arms crossed to his chest wasn’t surprising him, but that someone was staring straight back at him, which made him hold his breath for a moment. The latter’s look wasn’t the friendliest and Taiga needed some time to fix his expression to something softer, more curious instead of annoyed.

The first thing which caught his attention was the short blonde hair, but the man in his early thirties was definitely Japanese. Taiga had never seen someone with that hair color except for the very few foreigners he had seen when he had once been at the Edo harbor.

The man had the sleeves of his dark blue yukata rolled up to his elbows, revealing extremely muscular forearms.

Everything about that man screamed danger and still Taiga kept looking at him, especially because the man also didn’t look away and somehow it felt like if he looked away now it could actually make the latter angry.

Taiga hadn’t even moved nor changed his expression when the latter suddenly stepped away from the building and approached their house. With a heavy gulp Taiga tried to stay calm, but the man kept looking at him while coming closer. Not even once did the man spend any of the other boys any attention and he abruptly stopped a few meters away from the bars. It took a lot of effort for Taiga to keep a neutral expression on his face, because there were so many possible wrong moves that he just didn’t dare to move at all. Regardless his efforts it seemed like the man could see completely through his facade and knew all about his insecurities and worries. With a lopsided smile he finally looked away, but when he started walking away Taiga’s heart almost stopped when he realized that he was obviously heading for the entrance of their house.

He couldn’t see the entrance from the windowsill and it seemed like endless minutes passed in which he couldn’t decide if he should just freak on the spot, try to run away or maybe play sick to get the day off, but there was no time to decide because suddenly Kochi and Kentaro stepped into the back of the windowsill.

“Oh that’s not good…” Taiga let out worried on their expressions and Kochi bit his lip almost apologizing, even though he had absolutely nothing to do with the choice of the customers.

“Guess you can show us today how tough the Ceremony made you,” Kentaro let out as neutral as he could. “I think you can guess who your customer is?”

Taiga could just nod nervously on that before he got up on shaking legs.

“So just so you know he paid a higher price as normal, but not as high to be allowed to do things which will actually cause you visible damage.” Kentaro explained on which Taiga’s stomach got ready to twist on the spot. Visible damage? There were so many other ways to cause him damage after all and he was sure that man was more than aware of that fact.

“Okay let’s go, Kochi show them their room. Give them one at the end of the corridor on the left,” Kentaro added before he turned towards Taiga once more. “Just don’t freak out, okay? No matter if it’s today, tomorrow or in a month. This type of customer is just one of dozens of other dangerous and difficult ones.”

How could Kentaro’s words always be so on point, but so damn unhelpful and unsupportive at the same time? But he was right after all and with a deep breath Taiga finally followed Kochi into the house.

The man had waited for them at the entrance and when he came in sight he saw how Taisuke walked away from him, but it wasn’t obvious if he had talked to him or had passed by coincidence.

“Sorry to make you wait. This is Taiga, you will be his first customer since his Ceremony,” Kochi introduced him and a bit hesitant Taiga bowed to the older one.

“Show us our room,” the man said without even spending any more attention to Taiga which surprisingly made Taiga feel a bit angry, even though he knew he should lay more than low if he wanted to go through this without any big trouble.

 Kochi did how he was told and excused himself before he slid the door to their room shut, leaving Taiga alone with his first customer.

As much as the situation felt awkward and dangerous, Taiga knew that he had to behave the way Kentaro had taught him or he would risk bringing the house into trouble.

The man was still standing next to the door while Taiga walked next to the futon before he dared to turn around, trying to form the most confident look he could come up with.

“So do I get to know the name of my first customer?”

“Why would you want to know it?” The man’s question was in no way showing any sign of being offended by Taiga’s question so he tried his luck with some improvised strategy. After all he could still switch to some other tactic if he sensed the latter could get annoyed or angry.

“Maybe it can be helpful at some point? That depends though if you like me to shut up for the rest of the time or if you prefer me being a bit noisy?”

The man had definitely understood what that meant and he finally stepped closer to Taiga, but instead of touching him he walked around him once, scanning his body. He stopped behind him and took a hold on Taiga’s upper arms while he moved his face closer to the boy’s neck. He breathed in through his nose while he moved his face up to the boy’s hair and weirdly that action made Taiga feel excited instead of nervous.

“If innocence had a smell I think this would be it,” the man let out in a playful, yet almost threatening tone before his hands traveled a bit back to slip to the front of Taiga’s kimono. He wasn’t trying to open it yet, but his hands were traveling over the obi down to Taiga’s crotch as he touched his ear with his lips resulting in Taiga being unable to suppress a small gasp.

“Do you promise to let me hear my name in your sweet voice later if I tell you?”

Taiga nodded immediately, because after all that was what he had indirectly promised already if the latter wanted him to. A deep chuckle was heard when the man moved one hand to the obi to undo it fast and skilled like it was his everyday business before he let it drop to the ground and put his hands back on Taiga’s kimono.

“My name is Tatsuya,” the man whispered against his ear before he stepped a bit back to open Taiga’s kimono and took it off the boy’s shoulders before he let it drop to the floor.

Taiga shivered a bit when the cold reached his exposed skin, but Tatsuya’s hands on his hips were warmer than he had expected and he automatically turned around on the touch even without the latter pushing him towards any direction.

“Then tell me Tatsuya, do you like what you see?”

“More important is if I like what I hear,” Tatsuya replied before he suddenly shoved Taiga to the back, making the boy fall to the ground. Different things made Taiga lose a bit of his confidence through that move. The strength the man had used was quite a lot and he also didn’t even aim for the futon, ending in Taiga hurting his arm when he tried to stop his fall on the tatami ground. Not in any way impressed by the boy seeming a bit scared Tatsuya continued to undress himself before he gave Taiga a signal to stand up again, which resulted with Taiga getting angry for a moment, after all there had been no need to make him fall if he wanted him to stand up again.

With a tight grip the older one took Taiga’s face in his hands and moved his fingers over his skin as if it was an expensive piece of fabric he wanted to buy.

“Now I wonder if your moans are as soft as your skin?”

Taiga tried to reply with his look this time, not feeling confident enough to make his voice sound steady anymore.

“Why so shy? Didn’t you just offer me some fun?”

It didn’t actually sounded like he was angry, but he could obviously see through Taiga’s sudden hesitant behavior no matter how hard he tried to somehow show a poker face.

Slowly Tatsuya moved and brushed his own lips against Taiga’s while he kept a strong hold on his cheekbones and chin. “I can make you let out the sounds I want to hear if you are too shy to let them out willingly.”

There wasn’t even the time for a reply, because Tatsuya crushed their lips together and invaded the boy’s mouth with his tongue immediately. The kiss was deep and rough, the pace too fast for Taiga to even be able to think about how to move or follow. Not that he could decide how to move anyway, because Tatsuya pushed him backwards until they reached the wall and again he used too much force when he broke the kiss just to shove Taiga against it. Without saying anything he attacked again, continuing the same kiss than before.

It seemed as if he enjoyed seeing how Taiga kept panicking more and more, each time he pushed him around. That thought made him realize that this was indeed the case! That was why he had paid more! Tatsuya’s kink was obviously watching people getting confused, a bit taken aback, and if possible even scared. So he’d just stand back for a moment, watch their reaction and go for the next attack. It seemed to arouse him when the other person was inferior.

Moving fast Tatsuya grabbed one of Taiga’s legs and made him put it up on his hips before he lifted him up and pressed him against the wall, Taiga automatically closed his other leg around the latter’s hips as well, putting his arms around his neck.

“Don’t get too comfortable.”

“Then don’t offer such a nice position to me,” Taiga finally dared to shot back after he got to understand with what kind of customer he was dealing.

A lopsided smile appeared on Tatsuya’s lips on Taiga’s sudden snappy attitude and he pushed him even more against the wall when he lowered his lips to the boy’s skin this time and bit harshly down on his neck. Taiga let out a yelp on that and buried his fingernails in the latter’s skin.

“Not that comfortable anymore?” Tatsuya asked mockingly as he lifted his head just enough to bite down on Taiga’s earlobe this time. Instead of a yelp it was just a groan escaping him this time and he received a chuckle on that. “Already playing tough? Boy, I didn’t even get started.”

Which he proved immediately as he made a step back and dragged Taiga from the wall, throwing him on the futon this time. The force had been way more than before and Taiga could call himself lucky that he had aimed for the futon this time, because his back complained a lot on the sudden move.

“Turn around,” Tatsuya ordered and when Taiga needed a bit too long to move, the older one grabbed him by the hair and forced him to turn. Taiga sat up on his knees, not sure if he should bend to the front or not when his hair got released again. That question got answered seconds later though when Tatsuya moved one hand to his cheek first and let his fingers travel over Taiga’s lips. Taiga moved faster this time, understanding what the latter wanted when he added a bit more pressure. With a slow movement Taiga took the man’s fingers in his mouth and started sucking on them, while Tatsuya moved one arm down to the boy’s crotch and started touching him without any kind of warning on which Taiga flinched, but succeeded in not seeming insecure through that move.

“Let me hear something sweet and I might play nice,” Tatsuya offered as he removed his fingers, but it wasn’t easy for Taiga to come up with anything, because the latter’s hand was moving slowly over his cock, making it unbelievable hard to concentrate.

“I-” Not even able to say a whole sentence when Tatsuya stroke over his full length when he tried to come up with something he gave up for a moment and closed his eyes. Then he realized that there was no need to come up with anything, after all he knew what he wanted to hear. He let his head drop to the back, so that it was resting on Tatsuya’s collarbone and he parted his lips to take some shaking breathes while the older one kept teasing him until Taiga’s breathing turned into small moans.

“Tatsuya….” he finally brought out in between his low moans and he had obviously succeeded in making it sound as arousing as he wanted it to, because he could feel how the older one’s body shivered a bit under his.

With the next move the man had his fingers ready to push in and Taiga welcomed the preparation, no matter how rough and deep the other one moved right away, after all preparation was a luxury in their business, so there was no way he would complain about the pace.

When Tatsuya finally moved a bit away Taiga could relax a bit, but he didn’t get a lot of time to do so, because this time he got pushed to the front and he put his arms to the ground to stabilize himself and soon he rocked his hips backwards against the latter’s movement of his fingers burying too deep in a way too fast rhythm.

“Seems like you don’t really mind a fast pace,” Tatsuya said kind of impressed, but Taiga couldn’t actually say if that was true or not, after all a fast pace was all he had experienced until now. “Then I think it’s okay to speed things up.”

Was Taiga even allowed to complain if he wanted to? Those were small little details he had no clue about. What if the pace was really way too fast for him, would the amount they pay also decide about where he had to put his own limits? Well, for now he was definitely not going to complain, because causing trouble at his first day was definitely something he would avoid at all costs.

When Tatsuya pulled back he made Taiga turn around and the boy tried to read the man’s next moves, but it was extremely difficult. Somehow it felt like Tatsuya wasn’t even sure himself how far he should take things with Taiga. Nevertheless he suddenly pulled him closer on the legs, again such a fast movement that Taiga couldn’t actually adjust. Tatsuya settled between his legs, but when Taiga tried to spread his own legs a bit more to the sides to find a more comfortable position the other one took his left leg and bended it in a quite uncomfortable position upwards so that Taiga had to bend his knee.

“I told you not to get too comfortable,” Tatsuya let out playful, but also with a warning undertone.

Their eyes locked after that and when Taiga had an almost pouting expression on his face the older one formed a lopsided smile before he finally pushed in.

“Don’t look away,” Tatsuya warned him when Taiga wanted to close his eyes as he arched his back. With a lot of effort he kept looking at the other one, but while he was usually good in enduring sudden pain he would normally do so while hiding behind a facade, which he couldn’t form if he had to stare back at the other one that intensely. It almost seemed like Tatsuya knew that and even more, he enjoyed it!

He took it a bit slower this time, but still fast enough for Taiga to let out a gasp when he thrusted quite rough with his first move.

In silence Tatsuya sat up a bit more and used his free hand to lift Taiga’s hips a bit to be able to thrust in deeper with the next move and Taiga automatically put the back of his hand over his mouth to muffle his own sounds and he could already tell that this would definitely become a habit of his. Unfortunately Tatsuya didn’t seem to approve of it and he finally let go of his leg, which made him relax a bit, but with the next move his wrist was pinned next to his head and Tatsuya had leant so close that he could feel his breath on his face, giving him shivers down the spine.

“Why would you swallow those sweet sounds? Let me hear them clear and loud.”

With the next thrusts there was no way Taiga could hold back anyways and he let out a few small moans and then dared his head a bit up so that he could brush over Tatsuya’s lips.

“Tatsuya....” he let out in between his next moan, his voice sounding unfamiliar to himself. Way too demanding and arousing at the same time. It was enough to make the older one force his head back down with a rushed kiss.

It was a good distraction as the pace of the thrusts got faster and Taiga could finally move his legs a bit more freely to make it more comfortable and with Tatsuya busy he couldn’t complain about it this time.

There was a short moment when Taiga started struggling for air and he considered biting the older one when he didn’t back off right away, but he halted that move, doubting that he would get away without problems if he actually dared it. A few seconds later Tatsuya moved his lips to the boy’s jawline and when it was him who bit instead Taiga let out a shuddering breath.

Slowly he dared to rock his hips up against the latter’s fast thrusts and he could hear a small chuckle on that, muffled against his neck when the other one kept exploring his skin with his lips. When he bit down on his neck this time Taiga put one hand to the latter’s back and clawed it in his skin with a little bit too much force. The older one arched his back, but didn’t complain, instead his thrusts got rougher on the move and he finally released his wrist to put both his hands to the boy’s hips.

When he tried to sit up though Taiga threw both arms around his neck, holding him down.

“Are you demanding my attention now?”

He was actually just trying to stop the latter from getting a better angle to move even deeper, but well if challenging him would work then he was fine with any tactic.

Instead of a reply he pulled him closer and bit in his bottom lip with just a bit of pressure to be able to pull it down before releasing it again with a teasing smile.

“Am I not worth your attention?” This time Taiga didn’t feel surprised, but proud of the pleading tone of his voice and he could feel how a shiver ran through the customer’s body. Now he had made Tatsuya feel even more in control of the situation and the latter seemed to enjoy it to the fullest. Instead of sitting up he gave Taiga the attention he demanded, giving him another deep kiss as he kept thrusting more desperately this time. It was obvious that he was close, but Taiga wasn’t and somehow he wanted to change that, the problem was just that the other one didn’t actually consider his needs at the moment and if Taiga moved his arms down to his own member now it would definitely be the worst move ever, so for now he endured the denied attention, after all it was his job to pleasure the customer and not the other way around.

It was when the latter got too close that he broke the kiss again and buried his face in the crook of the boy’s neck. The deep moan he let out when he reached his climax made Taiga tighten his grip around Tatsuya’s back, because normally he’d love to come now as well, to share the shivers he could feel, but he still remained calm and gave the latter a lopsided smile as he sat up and pulled out.

“And, was my voice satisfying enough for you?” Taiga asked teasingly while the latter kept sitting between the boy’s legs for a moment, still breathing a bit erratic while coming down from his climax.

“If you get your nervousness a bit better under control then I’d give you a full score.”

Confusion was written all over Taiga’s face, because that had been a quite weird answer, but well he didn’t know the customers at all, so who knew how small talk instead of sex would show different parts of their personality. But there wouldn’t be any more small talk as Tatsuya finally got up and dressed. Taiga rolled on his stomach and watched him as he wasn’t supposed to guide him outside. That was Kochi’s job. Just for regular customers they would sometimes go with them, like Kentaro normally did with Fuma. Nevertheless he grabbed his kimono, threw it over his shoulders and got up when Tatsuya was ready to leave.

“Maybe next time I can get a full score then?” Taiga said before he bowed to the customer as he was told to do when they would leave. The latter let out a low chuckle on that and even though Taiga had been quite taken aback by his appearance at first with the weird hairstyle and dangerous aura, he couldn’t but find him interesting now.

“Then make sure not to mess up until I’ll be back.”

Why did it feel so satisfying to hear that? Was he proud that he hadn’t messed up? That he had been good enough to maybe make him come back? That he had handled a complicated customer right from the start? Whatever it was, it made Taiga smile as he bowed to Tatsuya again before the man left, leaving Taiga alone.

Taiga could leave the room on his own or he could wait for Kochi to tell him that the customer had left, which would mean he had to go back into the windowsill, but for now he needed a few minutes for himself.

He sat down on the futon again, closing his eyes with a deep breath as his hand finally found his own neglected erection. It had been quite mean to arouse him at first and then leave him like this, but somehow Taiga didn’t feel angry about it. Maybe he just had to learn how to get to his climax even without the customers taking care of him.

For now he’d just do it himself, after all he wouldn’t be able to sit still in the windowsill like this. Just remembering Tatsuya’s rough movements, his lips exploring his skin and biting down here and there, were enough to make his hand move faster and he jerked off faster than he had thought.

He rested some more minutes until his thoughts stopped spinning and he finally got dressed completely again. Now he could at least face Juri with a proud smile. After all even though he had lost their bet he had definitely won a bet against himself. It was a confidence boost he had definitely needed, but he had to make sure that a misstep or complicated situation wouldn’t throw him off balance.

***

Never had Taiga thought he could feel that exhausted after a day which he had spent sitting around almost all the time.

After getting back in the windowsill he hadn’t gotten a new customer for some time and had been ordered by Kentaro to take a break at some point to eat something. Later though he had succeeded in luring someone inside the house and he had to admit that he had dealt with the young boy even better than with Tatsuya. Which was maybe because this time the customer had been a bit insecure, a little bit like he imagined Aran and being able to guide the customer through everything had given him even more courage to try things out. Now he also really wanted Aran to come by, no matter if he was becoming a police officer or not. Maybe it would make it an even bigger challenge.

“Taiga, it’s time to get back. It’s soon closing time for the district,” Kochi was heard next to the windowsill and Taiga nodded, getting off together with the last two boys sitting there.

Juri had been off a bit earlier already, but it hadn’t been too long so Taiga wondered if he went for a bath now if the boy would be still there?

The last customers got guided out of the house and Taiga bowed politely to the people crossing his way. When he wanted to enter the back of the house he saw someone turning towards the corridor with Kamenashi’s room. Hadn’t Kochi just said it was closing time? Maybe a customer had lost his way through Kochi being busy making sure that everything was set for closing?

Taiga hurried back towards the corridor, but when he turned around the corner the person was entering Kamenashi’s room. That wasn’t actually the only point which made Taiga tilt his head in confusion.

“Blond hair?” He whispered to himself, because how big was the possibility to meet two people with blond hair in one day? He hadn’t seen the face of the person entering, but now he tiptoed towards the door and sat down next to it, pressing his ear carefully against the thin fabric.

“And with what tactic did you go this time?” Kamenashi was heard and then a chuckle followed, making everything in Taiga shiver all of a sudden.

“You told me he was a bit insecure, so I tested his ability to read a rough and rushed customer.”

He wasn’t mistaken, definitely! The voice belonged to Tatsuya and it made Taiga’s thoughts rush, because why was he with Kamenashi? What was this meeting about?

“And did he pass?”

“At first I thought he would fail to be honest. He tensed up and seemed completely lost as he couldn’t follow the pace, but then it somehow clicked. I guess he needed a moment to understand what I wanted him to do, but after he got it he reacted quite well. If you make sure he doesn’t get too difficult customers at first he will be fine. Just make sure you don’t let him handle too much at once. If he messes up, give him a break. He seems like that kind of person who needs to restore his courage after failing.”

It wasn’t like Tatsuya had said anything wrong, all of it was true, but it still made some weird kind of rage boil inside the boy. It had been a test! A trap he had totally fallen for, not that it was meant to mock him he knew that, but it still felt like a betrayal.

“Thanks for the advice. Until now you were never wrong with your guesses, so I am really happy I asked for your help today as well.”

“As long as I get what I want afterwards I am always here to help out, you know that.”

This time the chuckle came from Kamenashi, but Taiga’s mind was still caught up with something else.

“Until now?” Taiga repeated before he slowly retreated from the room, after all he could at least read the atmosphere and Kamenashi would skin him alive if he found out that he had eavesdrop not just the conversation, but also what would happen from now on, so leaving before he could get discovered was the best choice.

Without losing any time he went for the bath, loud voices reaching him before he was even getting inside.

“Finally, I thought you’d have just rolled yourself in the futon,” Reo teased him as Taiga stepped inside the bath. Instead of replying anything Taiga got out of his work kimono and went to wash himself.

Juri and Kentaro were also in the bath, but Taiga tried to ignore them for now. But that move didn’t get by unnoticed.

“Did anything happen?” Juri asked worried, but Taiga turned towards him and shook his head.

“No, I am just a bit tired, don’t worry.”

Well, at least the questioning would stop like this, but Juri always kept worrying, Taiga had figured that much already.

A few minutes later he joined the boys in the bath and never before had he been so happy about the warm water. Kentaro let out a chuckle on the sigh the boy let out.

“Guess the day was exhausting enough even with just two customers, right?”

Taiga felt how his eye twitched on Kentaro’s words and he looked at the boy with a death glare, which made Juri and Reo exchange a worried look, while Kentaro lifted an eyebrow.

“Did I say something wrong?”

“He is not making fun of you. We are all exhausted after long days, no matter if we have many customers or not,” Juri tried to calm Taiga down as he felt the sudden tension in the air.

“Do you know who my first customer was today?” Taiga asked Reo and Juri, but both shook their heads, because they had been busy at that time.

“His name was Tatsuya,” Taiga continued and both boys failed miserably in keeping a poker face. Reo looking awkwardly to the ceiling, while Juri bit his lip and sank a bit more into the bath as if he wanted the water to swallow him for good. That reaction made Taiga’s eyes burn like fire and he moved to the front, getting closer to Kentaro while the other two boys shifted to the other end of the bath.

“You met him today at the entrance, right?” Taiga asked in a calm voice and Kentaro just nodded. “You even received the payment from him and warned me what he could do.”

“I am your senpai that is what I am here for,” Kentaro explained with such an honest smile that Taiga wondered where his poker face’s limit was. But now it didn’t matter, because Taiga’s limit had been reached and he moved one hand up, touching Kentaro’s cheek with his wet fingers. The older one didn’t pull away, but he looked a bit skeptical out of a sudden.

“Helping me to understand my first customer, I should be happy to have such a good senpai, right?”

“Better me than Taisuke, I guess?” Kentaro asked a bit childish and flashed a teasing smile on which Taiga also smiled before that smile turned into something more alarming as he moved his other hand up as well, letting both hands travel to the boy’s hair and suddenly Kentaro’s calm mask was a bit scratched and he looked a bit taken aback.

“Ehm, what are you doing?”

Before replying, Taiga let out a chuckle, his smile growing wider again until it was already creepy instead of bright. “Thanking my senpai for his good work.”

The next move had Kentaro gasp, but all he could do was trying to take a last deep breath before Taiga pushed him completely under water.

Reo gasped as well, putting his hands to his face in shock and staring at Juri with a questioning expression. But Juri’s look was more amused than shocked, as he understood why Taiga got angry.

“Are we not supposed to do something?” Reo asked seriously worried after Kentaro started struggling after some time, but Taiga kept him under water with all his might. “Juri, he will scold us as well if we don’t help him. He is our senpai as well!”

“Calm down, he knows he deserves this,” Juri soothed the younger one.

When Kentaro’s struggling got a bit too much Taiga finally released him and the boy broke through the surface with a painful cough before he automatically backed away from Taiga.

“What the actual heck was that for?” Kentaro yelled at him.

“As I said it was my thanks for your help with Tatsuya. By the way Kamenashi also just thanked him.”

“Thanking someone is not- wait, what? Kamenashi…,” Kentaro’s look changed immediately as he realized what was going on. “You found out about Tatsuya?”

The death glare which hit him on that question was answer enough and Kentaro seemed to feel caught out of a sudden and when he tried to shift towards the edge of the bath to obviously get out, Taiga got closer to him again on which the older one stretched out his arms protectively, which made Juri chuckle.

“You two, I swear I am so going to punish you for this later.”

“Hey, I didn’t do anything!” Reo complained.

“Exactly and that is why I will punish you.”

“Don’t you think it’s time for your punishment first?” Taiga interrupted on which Kentaro seemed to get more and more panicked, which finally made Reo also unable to keep a straight face and he tried to hide a smile behind his hand.

“Taiga, wait. It’s not like this was my decision. A lot of new people went through the same, ask Juri and Reo. We are just doing what Kamenashi orders us to. With the next new boy you might have to do the same.”

“Doesn’t matter, I am angry now and at you, what comes later is no problem of the moment.”

Taiga moved quick and almost chased Kentaro through the bath and the boy squealed as the younger one got a grip on him again. “Taiga, I am sorry. How often do you want to hear that? You already punished me, didn’t you?”

“Well, I am still feeling angry so, sorry I won’t accept your apology for now.”

“Juri, Reo, stop him!” Kentaro yelled as Taiga tried to push him under water again and almost jumped on his back this time to be able to do so.

“No chance,” Juri replied laughing before he and Reo hurried out of the bath so that they wouldn’t be caught in between their struggle. They kept cheering for Taiga from the side though and soon Taiga’s anger was replaced by loud laughter and a teasing smile each time Kentaro tried to apologize again until Taiga finally let off him.

“You are forgiven,” Taiga finally announced as Kentaro was clawing his hands in one of the rocks at the bath to not be half drowned again.

“Is it my turn to say thank you now?” Kentaro asked in between some coughing and heavy breathing. Taiga lifted an eyebrow at that question, but while he got ready to get out of the bath, Kentaro stood up and grabbed Reo and Juri by the wrists without a warning and pulled both of them back in the bath.

Taiga kept laughing from the side while it were now Reo and Juri shouting apologies at Kentaro and all the anger was completely gone.

It didn’t matter if they lied to him, after all they all did it to make sure that he would be ready for this job and with all of them at his side he actually felt more than ready to face his new life in Yoshiwara.


	12. Welcome challenge

After just two days of work Taiga had gotten another day off and he had been extremely grateful for that, because he couldn’t deny that his body wasn’t the least used to this work yet and he still wondered if it was going to get easier at some point or if the other boys were just good at pretending.

Nevertheless had Taiga found the courage to wear Juri’s kimono after his day off and of course the boy had worn a super bright smile over the whole day thanks to that. It felt weird how Taiga was so easily affected through Juri’s mood, but it also made him wear a smile most of the day as well.

Two customers in the morning had been not much trouble for him, but one of them had been actually quite rough and Taiga had been thankful for the break Kentaro had made him take after it.

Slowly he walked through the corridors back to the windowsill after his break was over, but when he wanted to turn around to the entrance he heard someone shouting. It wasn’t really outraged, more begging, but it made Taiga slow down and peek carefully around the corner.

He saw a boy in the entrance and Taisuke was standing in front of him with a pissed expression.

“I can wait if he is busy. I really need to see him today,” the boy let out almost pouting while he swayed a bit and couldn’t really stand still.

“You were here yesterday already and the day before as well and that he has another customer at the moment isn’t even the problem. You know the rules! You are not allowed to enter when you are drunk!” Taisuke warned him strictly, but the boy just shot him an annoyed look on that. “Come back when you are sober.”

When the boy made a few fast steps to the front Taiga automatically held his breath, fearing that he would get angry and attack Taisuke, but it came different and the boy actually tried to hug Taisuke and begged him to let him stay.

Taiga hid a smile behind his hand as he couldn’t deny that it was a funny picture seeing Taisuke this lost.

“Oh, you are here again,” Reo was heard out of a sudden as he walked around the corner together with someone who had been obviously his last customer.

“Reo~” the boy squealed and pushed Taisuke to the side, throwing his arms around Reo’s neck while Kochi apologized to the previous customer for the chaos and guided him to the exit while Reo gave him an apologizing look before he concentrated on the boy who clung on him on unsteady feet.

“Fu, did you drink again?”

“Maybe?” The boy replied with a teasing expression.

“Not maybe, but for sure. I can smell you until here and now out,” Taisuke repeated again on which Fu put his arms around Reo’s hips and shook his head like a six year old boy.

“I don’t want to go. Reo, don’t let him throw me out.”

Reo let out a sigh before he looked up at Taisuke, but his senpai shook his head right away. “Don’t even try that look on me Reo. Rules are rules!”

“He doesn’t get violent though when he is drunk, you can see that yourself,” Reo tried his luck, but Taisuke just rolled his eyes on that. Before he could reply something though Kochi entered the building again and he seemed kind of in a hurry as he approached Taisuke and whispered something on which Taisuke’s look turned to even more annoyed.

“Fine, Reo take him with you to a room. If you don’t want a break after your last customer then I won’t stop you.”

Taking breaks wasn’t what Reo was good at anyways, but it confused Taiga that he had given in so easily after he was definitely about to drag Fu out the building if necessary.

“Kochi, give them a room.”

“Great! Thank you grumpy senpai!” Fu chirped at Taisuke with a bright smile before he dragged Reo down the corridor after Kochi. The boy shook his head, but he wasn’t annoyed at all. It was the first time Taiga had actually seen such an honest and bright smile on the boy’s face when having a customer.

At the last moment Taiga realized that Taisuke was about to turn around to him so he hurried back down the corridor so that he wouldn’t get scolded again for eavesdropping. But his break had been officially over anyway, so after a second corner he stopped and tried to calm down. With a played neutral expression he slowly walked back towards the front, but as expected Taisuke showed up in front of him.

“Where are you going?” He asked directly on which Taiga pointed towards the windowsill.

“Back to work, my break is over.”

“Take a longer break then.”

“What? Why should I-”

“Just do it, off with you to the back of the house,” Taisuke said strict on which Taiga pouted.

“I don’t need a longer break.”

“Well, I don’t care. Just do as you are told.”

That arrogant behavior made Taiga forget all about the amusing thoughts he had had a few moments ago about the latter and he shot him an annoyed glance, ready to freak at him.

“Oh, already working?”

A familiar voice made them both turn to the corner from where Fuma approached them together with Kentaro. While Fuma was wearing a usual grey yukata as the time before, Kentaro wore a white Kimono with silver lines on it and a silver obi.

“Right, I totally forgot to tell you,” Kentaro said towards Fuma before he looked up to Taisuke with a confused expression.

“Well he is not working now, he is taking a break.”

“And as I said I just came back from my break.”

The other two shot each other knowing looks, the tension in the air more than visible to them, but while Kentaro just shrugged his shoulders a little bit lost Fuma suddenly cracked a smile and leant towards Kentaro, whispering something in his ear on which the older one chuckled.

“Taisuke, when you don’t want him in the windowsill would you mind if we borrow him?”

Taiga got ready to explode if Taisuke would actually say it wasn’t okay, but then he realized what the question actually meant and he looked at Fuma and Kentaro in confusion.

“Excuse me, what?”

“Completely okay with me. Please take him with you, but make sure to tell me when you are done. I will decide then if he goes back in the windowsill or not,” Taisuke said neutral before he walked away as if nothing had happened.

“What the hell was that?” Taiga asked more in a monolog as he kept looking after his senpai, but got distracted when Kentaro suddenly pulled him on the wrist towards another corridor.

“Worry about that later, now you come and play with us.”

“But-”

“No but, I am paying for you as well so you better treat me well,” Fuma interfered as they reached their room and Fuma slid the door open. There was a playful look on his face and while Taiga had met him before already he also didn’t forget what Kentaro had said before that they weren’t always that harmless and the older one seemed to be in play mood judging by the way he urged the other two to enter the room before he closed the door.

“How much do you intend to pay today?” Kentaro asked as he approached Fuma with the same playful expression and it didn’t surprise Taiga when Fuma pulled him closer and gave him a rushed kiss, pressing the older one’s lower body against his own on which Kentaro automatically rocked his hips forward.

“Mh, let’s go easy on him today, shall we?” Fuma replied and Taiga felt at least a bit relieved on hearing that, but when Fuma looked towards him he automatically tensed.

The older one made his way over to him and just kept staring for a moment before he clapped him on the cheek. Taiga flinched a bit on the move on which Fuma let out a low chuckle. “Finally I am allowed to touch you.”

Before Taiga could reply anything Fuma turned away from him and suddenly pulled a pillow next to the futon and sat down. With a confused expression Taiga looked at him, but Fuma just made a move with his hand towards the futon. “Entertain me.”

When Taiga turned towards Kentaro he realized that he was the only one in the room who hadn’t understood what that meant, because Kentaro’s eyes were shining in excitement on that statement before he walked up to Taiga and made him turn towards Fuma again before he let his hands slowly slide from Taiga’s shoulders towards his hips.

“Won’t you do what the customer is asking of you?” He whispered next to his ear while his hands pulled on his obi and Taiga remembered how much he got affected by Kentaro’s touch before already and how much he had actually wished to be able to get a chance like this. Did it really matter if it was just one or two people instead? Well, he would find out, so why not take the chance and play a bit as well?

There was a moment of hesitation when he looked at Fuma and wasn’t sure how much fun he was actually allowed to have alone with Kentaro, but on the other hand Fuma wasn’t the type to sit back for long, so he would just use the time he was given and pay Fuma back for the time he had to be the one watching.

With a swift movement Taiga turned around and made Kentaro let go off him. With the next step Taiga was behind Kentaro, so that the older one was facing Fuma and judging by Fuma’s teasing expression Kentaro hadn’t seen Taiga’s move coming. Without leaving the older one any chance to complain Taiga pulled his obi away and pulled the collar of his kimono just a bit to the back so that he could press a soft kiss on Kentaro’s neck.

The satisfaction running through his body when he felt Kentaro shiver on that move was making him move again and he pulled Kentaro’s kimono lower, but made sure it would just slip from his shoulders and not lower. After all they were told to entertain Fuma, so why take away the fun? Taiga made sure to give Fuma a side glance here and there to be sure he wouldn’t get bored or even angry, but all he could see was a mocking expression towards Kentaro. It was obvious that they shared the same satisfaction about seeing Kentaro crumble under them.

Still moving a bit careful Taiga moved his lips upwards, licking over the older one’s already light salty tasting skin until he reached his earlobe. When he bit into it he received a low moan and suddenly Kentaro’s arms were on his hips and without even being able to look what he was doing he slowly opened Taiga’s obi.

“Be careful, he has skilled hands, he can easily turn the game around,” Fuma warned him suddenly when Taiga’s obi dropped to the ground as well and Kentaro’s hands were already vanishing inside of the younger one’s kimono. Taiga flinched a bit when the older one’s hands found his butt and started squeezing teasingly. When Taiga let out a chuckle on that move he couldn’t recognize his own voice. Was he so confident because he knew both boys this time? Whatever it was he couldn’t deny that he liked feeling this way and he escaped Kentaro’s touch with a step to the front on which his kimono opened completely and he pressed his erection against the fabric of Kentaro’s kimono on which he could feel how the older one’s legs got weak out of a sudden.

“So confident aren’t you?” Kentaro asked as he let his head drop against Taiga’s shoulder and lifted his hand to the other one’s face. For a moment Taiga let him do as he pleased, but when his fingers brushed over his lips he took two of them in his mouth and sucked on them on which Kentaro tried to moved his other hand back on Taiga’s body, but he wouldn’t let him and trapped his wrist while he finally opened the older one’s kimono with his free hand and let his arm slowly explore his lower stomach, intentionally not moving it lower which made Kentaro suddenly push his fingers deeper into the younger one’s mouth, making Taiga cough.

Taiga had already moved, but Kentaro was faster this time, pulling out his fingers and moving quick. Without a warning he turned and grabbed Taiga by the open kimono, shoving him down on the futon. Taiga had planned the same move, now giving the older one an annoyed look.

“One point for Kentaro,” Fuma let out with a chuckle. They were lying right next to him now, but Taiga’s attention was completely on Kentaro, but the older one had trapped him under his weight and looked up at Fuma with a smile before he stretched out his arm and brushed his pointer finger with a slow movement over the latter’s lips.

“Are you going to fuck the winner or the loser?”

“How about I fuck the one who gets laid first?”

“Totally ok wi-”

A squeal replaced Kentaro’s reply as Taiga suddenly pulled him down with his arms around his neck and almost wrestled himself on top of him. Fuma burst out in a resounding laughter on that move, while Kentaro’s look had turned to completely stunned by the way Taiga had easily switched positions with him.

“Do I need to worry that you don’t want to do it with me?” Fuma asked almost disappointed on which Taiga gave him a lopsided smile.

“Let’s say I need to take this opportunity, because who knows when I will get another chance like this?”

“Good point! Then please feel free to go for it.”

“Hey, does anyone care for my opinion?” Kentaro interfered pouting, but Taiga’s hand found its way in his hair and pulled his head up instead of giving him a reply. The movement had been quite rough and made Kentaro gasp, but he didn’t try to pull away when Taiga suddenly brushed his lips over his, but pulled away with a smile once more.

“Who knows what Fuma will allow you later if you behave now?”

That actually seemed to sound quite promising to Kentaro and he moved one leg up against Taiga’s crotch, but Taiga didn’t even flinch this time. “Then what are you waiting for?”

It was Kentaro’s tone which made Taiga move rougher and faster than he would normally do, but well he had been through something similar with Reo and Kentaro was a senpai, so why should he hold back? With the next move Taiga had already spread Kentaro’s legs with his knees, but he halted and pulled Kentaro a bit up on his hair once more, not the least surprised when Kentaro welcomed the following kiss with an almost impatient pace.

It was the way Taiga could feel how Kentaro tensed a bit when he pushed in which made him move a bit slower, but he still didn’t break the kiss and he wouldn’t be able to anyways as Kentaro closed his arms around his neck and pulled him even closer, deepening the kiss until it was Taiga’s turn to struggle.

“I told you to be careful,” Fuma scolded him from the side, but it wasn’t like Taiga would easily lose the game. First he rocked his hips forward and it resulted in Kentaro to take a deep breath before he tried to pull Taiga back into the kiss. This time Taiga gave in to it once more, but not without a plan. Kentaro got used to Taiga’s pace fast and he closed his legs around his hips, moving his own hips almost too fast for Taiga to keep up with the pace. It was obvious that Kentaro still tried to turn things around, but Taiga saw it coming as Kentaro wanted to put his hands on Taiga’s shoulders to somehow turn them around. Kentaro’s move got stopped with a yelp as Taiga bit him harshly on the lip.

“Nice try,” he let out as he pulled back and took a look at what he had done. A small blood drop had formed on Kentaro’s bottom lip and the latter’s look had turned dangerously dark, but it made Taiga’s look turn even more confident as he leant down and licked the drop away. “Such a bad boy.”

A low growl was heard from Kentaro on Taiga’s arrogant tone, but before he could even think about any kind of reaction Fuma was up next to them and both looked up to him as he got out of his yukata.

“Playtime already over?” Taiga asked almost disappointed.

“It’s your own fault when you two make it so hard to just sit still and watch.”

Taiga carefully sat back and slipped out, ready to make space for Fuma as the latter stepped on the futon, but Fuma reached out for his kimono and pulled it from his shoulders. With a confused look Taiga kept eying the latter as he sat down in front of him with a teasing look.

“For me playtime has just started.”

When Fuma shifted behind Taiga the boy looked at Kentaro with a lost expression, but the teasing look he got in return made him roll his eyes. “You two had planned this from the very beginning, didn’t you?”

“We don’t need words to communicate anymore after all,” Kentaro explained as he sat up and left his kimono down on the futon. Soon Taiga found himself trapped between the two and hands were all over his body, lips exploring his back, then hands finding his erection and for a moment he just gave up, throwing his head back against Fuma’s shoulder with a moan. A low chuckle was the result and when he opened his eyes again Kentaro leaned over him to give Fuma a kiss instead. That move made Taiga take action himself and he put his hands around Kentaro’s body, groping his butt on which the older one broke the kiss to take a look at Taiga.

“I guess we shouldn’t let you wait for too long?”

No they should definitely not, but it was two against one after all, so Taiga gave up on trying determining the pace. Luckily Fuma finally shifted a bit back, just to push in with a finger without a warning and Taiga almost yelped on the sudden action, but he got distracted by Kentaro with a kiss and soon he got used to Fuma’s fingers preparing him and while he rocked his hips backwards, his upper body automatically followed Kentaro as he tried to sit back.

“Are you running away?” Fuma teased him as he had to pull him back on his shoulders as he positioned himself. Distracted by Fuma pushing in Taiga didn’t realize how Kentaro had gone down on all four, but when he licked over his erection all of a sudden he took a sharp breath.

The stimulation coming from both sides was a whole new experience for him and he wasn’t sure how to act between them, but Fuma kept the latter’s upper body pressed against his chest, mostly to prevent Taiga from falling forward on Kentaro.

Fuma’s pace was fast, but his thrusts weren’t as rough as Taiga would have imagined them from the way he handled Kentaro, but he had said before that they should be nice to him today so he was sure that the older one was holding back. When it got slowly too much for Taiga his hand found Kentaro’s hair, pulling desperately on it on which Kentaro sucked even more intensely, resulting with an almost high pitched moan from Taiga.

“Such a sweet voice, you should use it more often,” Fuma whispered next to his ear before he put one hand to the younger one’s cheek and made him bend far enough so that he could kiss him.

As much as Taiga enjoyed the kiss, especially because he hadn’t expected the other one to be such a good kisser, he wanted to pull away as he realized how close he was. But realizing his struggle, Fuma’s thrusts got deeper and while it got harder for Kentaro to even move on his own with the way Taiga’s hips got rocked to the front, they both worked perfectly synchronized to drive Taiga insane and over the edge before he could even warn any of them.

The last deep moan got swallowed in the kiss and Kentaro backed off to make it possible for Taiga to collapse to the front as Fuma released him.

“Can you be that nice to me as well?” Kentaro asked with a teasing smile, but of course Fuma shook his head as he crawled over to the latter.

Taiga didn’t even care how easily the attention wasn’t on him anymore, after all a break was what he definitely needed now. Fuma on the other hand was still not done and he attacked Kentaro immediately with a deep and rough kiss on which the older one dropped to the floor and closed his legs around the latter’s hips immediately.

They were indeed handling each other way rougher than they did with him, but that was for now. Maybe time would change that, but for now he could watch without feeling left out, after all this time they had taken care of him first.

***


	13. Prey

The next workday had passed without trouble as well and somehow his time with Fuma and Kentaro had made Taiga a bit more confident and he had challenged Juri once more and won this time as he lured someone in the house after several minutes already and that even though it had been early in the morning.

He had also had his first female customer later that day and even though he had felt a bit insecure at first he was lucky to get a woman which knew exactly what and how she wanted it, so there wasn’t much Taiga could mess up.

The evening had been quiet as well, a lot of them being exhausted and none of them stayed up long, but somehow Taiga couldn’t fall asleep easily that night. Reo had been extremely quiet before and had gone to bed before all of them which was indeed unusual, but even Reo would need to rest at some point and maybe he had finally reached that point.

Taiga closed his eyes with a low sigh, but when he finally felt tired enough to fall asleep a hand landed on his face and with a groan he took away Juri’s hand and turned to his side. The room was too dark to see the other ones face, but his calm breathing made it clear that he was indeed asleep.

“You are unbelievable,” Taiga scolded him before he put his hand down between them and held on to it for a moment. Wouldn’t it be a safer choice to just keep holding it over the night? Like that Juri couldn’t move that much and had one hand less to slap him in his sleep. A bit hesitant Taiga kept Juri’s hand in his and somehow he really wanted to see the latter’s sleeping face all of a sudden, even though he knew he was acting ridiculous.

With a sigh he put Juri’s hand down after all and shook his head, yes he was indeed acting ridiculous. First he wanted to turn away and finally go to sleep, but then there was a low groan next to Juri, but it stopped immediately as if someone tried to not make a sound. It actually made Taiga sit up and he kept staring at the space Reo was lying, because he was sure it had been coming from there. Listening for a while he could hear how Reo was moving nonstop. Was he dreaming? But somehow his movements didn’t seem like the ones Juri did when he was sleeping and normally Reo was quiet when asleep. After a moment there was a sound again, this time louder and there was no doubt that it sounded like he was in pain.

Not wanting to wake the others up in case he was mistaken he crawled off the futon and to the corner where the lamp was placed. He put on the candle inside and crawled back to the futons, finding Reo completely rolled in his futon.

“Reo? Are you awake?”

No reply, but when Taiga tried to lift the blanket there was resistance and that made clear that Reo was actually holding on to it.

“Cut the crap out Reo or I will wake up the others,” Taiga whispered warningly.

With his next try he was able to pull the blanket off the boy’s head and he let out a gasp. Reo’s forehead was sweaty, his skin pale and his breathing pace extremely erratic.

“Idiot, why are you keeping quiet when you feel bad?” Taiga scolded him this time in a louder voice and Hokuto moved next to them.

“What is going on?” Hokuto asked in a tired voice, but sat up nevertheless as he realized that Taiga was up.

“Reo doesn’t feel well,” Taiga said on which Reo tried to crawl back under his blanket.

“It’s okay...it’s nothing….” Reo let out in a low voice, but even the sound of his voice made clear that he was in pain and Hokuto lifted an eyebrow at him before he sat up on his knees and pulled the blanket away completely this time.

Reo was curled up, his hands closing around his upper body. It was obvious that he had tried for some time already to play down the pain to not worry them, but he had obviously reached his limits.

“Let me see,” Hokuto said.

Reo let out a struggled sound when Hokuto tried to make him turn on his back and touched his stomach area. With a groan Reo curled up again and Taiga finally turned to Juri to wake him up.

“Mh, why are you all awake?” Juri asked sleepy before his look fell on Reo. “What’s wrong? Is he okay?”

With a worried look Juri sat up and took one of Reo’s hands in his. When Reo didn’t pull away, but squeezed Juri’s hand with a force that it could hurt the latter already it was clear in how much pain he actually was.

“I will wake up Kochi so he can prepare some cold water. We have to get the fever down. Then I’ll get Kamenashi and ask him if we should get Nakamaru here or not,” Hokuto announced and was up immediately.

“Who is Nakamaru?” Taiga asked Juri as Hokuto was already out the room.

“He is the doctor taking care of the people of the house.”

“I don’t want him to come,” Reo whispered and somehow his voice sounded scared this time.

“Why not? He can definitely help you.”

On Taiga’s words Reo shook his head and let out another pained sound as the pain seemed to get more. A bit lost Taiga looked at Juri, because he couldn’t understand why anyone would refuse a doctor’s help, but somehow Juri had the same sad and somehow understanding look on his face.

“Is there something I should know about?” Taiga asked a bit scared now.

“You know when boys like us get ill then it’s not necessarily just a cold.”

“Well, because it could be something else we are asking Nakamaru, right?” Taiga asked almost angry this time, but then there was a sniff from Reo and Taiga could see how his body started shaking and he wasn’t sure anymore if it was just of the pain.

“If we need to call Nakamaru then it’s normally because it is serious and that means that it can be something we got from the customer….” Juri explained in a low voice as if he didn’t want to say it out loud in the first place.

“From the customer, but...oh…” Finally Taiga understood and now he also felt how his stomach slowly twisted on that thought. A sexually transmitted disease would be indeed the worst case.

“Please don’t make him come…” Reo begged again, but there was no way they would let him suffer like this and luckily soon Kochi finally appeared with some water. They helped Reo drink a bit before they tried to bring the fever down.

Kamenashi had taken a look at Reo just for a brief moment before he had asked Kochi to get Nakamaru. Since that moment Reo hadn't stopped crying and Juri wouldn't let go of his hand, even though the boy had curled up again.

Taiga didn't know how to act at all. He hadn't thought of such an outcome, but he felt extremely relieved that he had noticed Reo's suffering or maybe they had found him dead in the morning. Just the thought of it made Taiga's stomach turn and all he could do was watch Hokuto how he tried to keep the fever down somehow while bringing cold fresh water every few minutes.

Kamenashi had gone downstairs again to greet the doctor and minutes later they finally entered the room together with Kochi. All they could do for now was waiting for Nakamaru to examine Reo and tell them that he could hopefully somehow help him.

Nakamaru wore a usual yukata, but before he started Kamenashi helped him to put on a beige sheet over it. Kamenashi's clothes were also just a normal yukata for the night which made him look like a common person and definitely not the owner of this place. But it was somehow a relief to see so much worry on the owner's face, it made it easier to believe that Kamenashi indeed cared for the boys.

“Would you hold him down?” Nakamaru asked after he had taken a quick look at Reo’s fever, but couldn't examine the boy's body, because Reo refused to lie on his back.

“Boys, would you help out?” Kamenashi asked and even though it was hard they all agreed and while Hokuto and Kochi went to Reo’s legs, Taiga and Juri turned Reo on his back on his shoulders.

“Please, stop! It hurts too much!” Reo begged as he started struggling and Taiga needed to use a lot of force to keep Reo on his back, because Reo still kept a hold on Juri’s hand so that the boy could just use one hand to hold him down. Hokuto and Kochi also had to watch out that they wouldn't get kicked as Reo started struggling even more.

Nakamaru ignored them as good as possible and opened Reo’s yukata, examining his stomach area and when he used more pressure there was a sudden scream from Reo which made Taiga almost let go of him.

“Please…” Reo whimpered as his struggling got weaker even though each touch on his body still seemed to hurt a lot.

Taiga dared to let go with one arm and put it to the younger one's face on which Reo looked up at him with teary eyes.

“It will be okay! Just hold on for a bit longer!”

Reo could just nod on that and with a deep breath he shut his eyes, exhaustion finally making him unable to struggle.

“Would you hand me a cup of water?” Nakamaru asked of Kamenashi after he seemed done with his examination. His expression hadn't changed at all so it wasn't clear what exactly he was thinking. Was it that bad? Or easily healed?

When he got the requested water he put some different ingredients from a medical case in it before he handed it to Taiga.

“Help him drink this.”

Taiga nodded and Juri helped Reo to sit up. First Reo wanted to spit it out again, because it tasted extremely bitter, but the boys all urged him to drink it.

“What now?” Kochi asked worried when he and Hokuto got up as it didn't seem like Reo would start struggling again.

First there was no reaction from Nakamaru and it made them worry a lot, but then he sighed and pointed to the door.

“Now you bring him to the toilet.”

“What?” Taiga asked in confusion and all the others also looked dumbfounded at the doctor.

With his next move Nakamaru put all his medical stuff back in his case before he turned towards Reo with a scolding look and suddenly hit him on the head.

Reo let out a yelp on that. “What was that for?”

“For you causing your friends so much trouble!” Nakamaru scolded him. “How much did you eat today? And more important how fast did you eat?”

A question none of them had expected, but slowly Reo seemed to get smaller between Taiga and Juri.

“Wait, does that mean…” Hokuto started as he was the first one to catch up.

“He has a stomach colic! As I know him he ate way too fast to not waste time with a too long break. Then he did the same at dinner and went for a bath after that, making his stomach unable to digest the amount so his intestine closed down, causing him a lot of pain.”

“Are you serious?” Juri asked scolding, but the question was directed towards Reo and the latter bit his lip in apology.

“It's not like it doesn't really hurt you know…” Reo tried to defend himself.

“Oh trust me we know that and it could have actually killed you if no one had realized that you were in pain,” Nakamaru explained on which Reo looked even more beaten.

“I'm sorry….”

“Don't be. We're all happy that you will be fine!” Taiga said and it finally made Reo crack a brief smile, but he was still in pain, the fever still there.

“Now hurry, because as soon as the medication starts working you won't have time to bring him to the toilet anymore.”

“Okay let's move, I won't use this room anymore if the medication shows effect here already,” Hokuto let out serious before he urged the others to help him bring Reo out of the room.

Taiga was of course happy that this time the situation wasn't as serious as they had feared, but now the talk he had with Juri before wouldn't leave his mind. How hadn't he thought about this until now? It was so easy for them to get infected with something through their customers. Had they lost boys before through it? They definitely have, but how often did it actually happen? How big was the danger? It would give Taiga a headache and some more sleepless nights, but what could he do about it? The other boys also worked with that risk and there was nowhere else they could go anyway.

***

Through the whole chaos the night before the boys got each half a day off to take care of Reo. Hokuto and Juri had stayed with him until noon and then Taiga and Kochi switched with them.

Things had calmed down since the evening and Reo had been able to sleep most of the time, but he would still need a few more days to get better.

“Did he eat?” Taiga asked Kochi who brought a trail out of the room.

“Yes the bit Nakamaru allowed him to. He is really eating way too much and definitely too fast. Even now I had to scold him to eat slower.”

Taiga shook his head on hearing that, because Reo’s unhealthy eating habit was definitely something they had to look out for.

“I'll bring the trail to the kitchen. I'll be back in a minute.”

“Take your time,” Taiga replied before he entered his room, finding Reo on his futon, this time on his back and finally not curled up anymore.

“Is the pain better?”

On Taiga's question the boy looked over to him with a brief smile. “Yes, a lot. I'm really sorry for causing you so much trouble.”

“Just don't keep silent next time, okay? And please try to eat a bit healthier from now on.”

Reo nodded with another apologizing look before he turned on his side and Taiga pulled a pillow over to him so that he could get a bit up on his elbow without using too much strength.

“Guess I've to leave my customers to you for some time.”

“Well, those which don't mind will be okay with other boys as well, right? Fu on the other hand left again.”

“What, he came?” Reo asked and for a moment it seemed like he got ready to dash out the door to get back to work.

“He said he'll come by each day from now on to ask how you are.”

“Idiot, he has way too much free time.”

Taiga chuckled on that, because he could see how happy Reo actually was about Fu worrying for him.

“By the way Kentaro said we have to take care of your duties for a few days as well. What exactly did he mean?”

Reo stood silent for a moment upon hearing that and Taiga waved his hand in front of his face when the boy seemed to have frozen.

“Everything alright?”

“Taisuke will kill me…” Reo let out and suddenly sat up on which Taiga scolded him right away, but Reo took him by the shoulders. “Taiga, I've forgotten to run my orders yesterday! If Taisuke finds out, he'll drown me in the bath.”

“What orders?”

“The newbies have no duties, but after a while you get told to run some regular orders, like food or supplies for the house.”

“Reo, don't get up. What are you doing?” Taiga scolded him as the boy suddenly hurried through the room even though it was more half crawling than running, but it still worried Taiga.

“Here,” Reo said and handed Taiga a paper before he dropped back on the futon, obviously exhausted just through this small sprint.

“A kimono order?”

“Yes, I was supposed to pick it up from Tegoshi’s shop yesterday, but because I wasn't feeling well I totally forgot. Please Taiga would you get it for me before Taisuke finds out that I forgot?”

“Is it okay for me to go?”

“As long as you bring this paper with you Tegoshi will hand you the kimono! Please?”

How could he actually say no to Reo's begging, especially because he didn't forget it because he was lazy, but ill.

“Fine, I guess Kochi will be back soon anyways, so I will go and get it for you!”

With a squeal Reo threw his arms around Taiga’s shoulders and dropped a kiss on his hair. “You are the best, thank you.”

***

It had been a while since Taiga had met Tegoshi and he felt a bit uncomfortable as he stepped inside the kimono shop, alone for the first time as he realized.

“Tegoshi?” Taiga asked in a loud voice as he couldn't see the latter anywhere. But the shop was open so he had to be around. Slowly Taiga moved through the shop, taking a look at all the expensive looking fabrics which were spread over the shelves on the first floor. For a moment he halted in front of the stairs, because he remembered that Tegoshi had told him that normal customers weren't allowed upstairs. It was just for those who had their ceremony coming up.

“Tegoshi, are you up there? I've come to pick up an order.”

No reply and after another moment Taiga let out a sigh and made a first step on the stairs.

“You want to have another ceremony?” Tegoshi was heard right next to him out of a sudden, making Taiga jolt. Like a magician he had appeared out of nowhere, now scanning Taiga with an intense look. Taiga turned towards him with an embarrassed look before he held out the piece of paper he got from Reo to him.

“I guess Kamenashi wouldn't pay me another kimono,” Taiga let out playfully and Tegoshi’s smile turned into a lopsided one as he took the paper from him. “But you can still come by our house. I've chosen some kimonos you'd definitely like.”

Even though there was no need at all anymore to try and seduce Tegoshi it somehow came naturally that Taiga tried and the latter didn't mind at all.

“Then I should definitely take a look. I've to make sure that my favorite boy looks stunning and not like a low whore.”

Which he was actually, but of course they were both aware of that. Tegoshi handed him the bag with the ordered kimono, but of course he used the chance to brush over Taiga’s hands and the younger one gave him a playful look.

“Then I'll be waiting for your opinion.”

“Am I allowed to spank you if your choice of kimonos is really bad?”

That was definitely something Taiga hadn't expected to hear from Tegoshi, but it made his smile grew even wider.

“For one choice you've to spank Juri if you don't like it.”

“Well that boy definitely deserves it.”

Taiga let out a laugh on that, because he couldn't deny that he was right.

“Be careful on your way back,” Tegoshi said before he went out to the street with Taiga and watched him until he was around the next corner.

Taiga shook his head on how easily he still ended up in some sort of seducing battle with the older one, but because of Reo’s bad condition he wanted to hurry back, taking a few short cuts he had learned from Juri before.

Somehow he also hoped to spot Aran somewhere again, but he knew that if he was on patrol he couldn't approach him anyway.

Completely in his thoughts and in a hurry he passed around the next corner, but then he suddenly got pulled back and landed on the dirty ground of the backstreet he had used as a short cut. He had let the bag with the kimono drop and wanted to pick it up, but it got kicked away before he could do so.

“What are you doing?” Taiga yelled at the other one, but when he looked up at the man he froze. This couldn't be possible. How could he have such a bad timing and why was this person around here anyway? Was it just a coincidence?

“What is a dirty brat like you doing with something expensive like this in the first place?” The man asked provokingly. The same man Taiga had interrupted as he had been Kentaro's customer. The same man which had punished him for his impoliteness.

“I'm running an order for our house, so would you mind letting me bring it back? They are waiting for this.” Taiga tried to stay as calm as possible, but it was no use, because the latter moved right away, grabbing Taiga by the hair so that he was forced to stand up again.

“Let go!” Taiga yelled and tried to make him let go, but got pushed against the back of a building as a result.

“You really have no manners. Guess your house doesn't teach you well.”

“I didn't do anything. Let go of me,” Taiga shouted this time, trying to push the other one to the back to run away, after all he could tell that the situation was about to escalate and talking wouldn't help him. Somehow it didn't feel like a coincidence at all that the man had suddenly approached Taiga again and thinking of him as some kind of stalker made even more panic rise inside him.

When he kept struggling but couldn't free himself he took another deep breath, ready to scream for help, but then he got a sudden blow in the stomach forcing him to bend to the front. When he got a grip again and started struggling once more a hand landed over his mouth and pushed him forcefully with the back of his head back against the building, on which he felt extremely dizzy out of a sudden.

No words would come out anymore, because each time he tried to take another breath he received another punch or kick, until he slid to the ground after being thrown against the building once more.

“Did that hurt? I'm not sure though you'd learn through such a short lesson.”

Taiga could taste blood in his mouth and his yukata was ripped as well, showing some bruises and cuts on his skin. Still he tried to get up. The next kick he received threw some sand from the street in his eyes and with a cough he curled up, trying to somehow avoid even worse injuries, but the other one kept yelling at him, but Taiga couldn’t even clearly understand him anymore with the way his surroundings kept spinning and his body started shutting down through the pain.

There was a sudden break and Taiga dared to take a deep breath and turn around, but when he saw how the latter took a wooden bar which was leaning against one of the other houses Taiga used his last strength to somehow get up and crawl away.

“Oh how cute, trying to run away from your punishment?”

“What’s wrong with you? I apologized for my mistake! You already punished me back then. Leave me alone already!” Taiga yelled at the man as he kept backing away, but he couldn’t even get back into a standing position and the man didn’t even seem to consider having any kind of conversation with him before he roared and lunged out with the bar.

At the last moment Taiga lifted his arm to protect his head from the impact, but the force was enough to make him scream out and he wasn’t sure if another impact couldn’t actually break his arm.

“STOP IT!” Taiga shouted again, but another impact was the only reply he got. When the bar clashed against his shoulder he turned away, but that resulted with another impact on his back.

Fear started paralyzing Taiga as he wasn’t sure anymore if the latter actually aimed to kill him, but he wouldn’t be able to defend himself anymore, because his injuries were making him almost lose consciousness. When he failed in protecting his head at one impact he felt like throwing up all of a sudden the pain too much to bear, but then the shouting of the man changed, it seemed even more outraged than before, but there was no new impact, but Taiga was too weak to even turn around.

He wasn’t sure how much time passed while he was lying there, but the pain made him unable to even get a clear picture of his surroundings in the first place, so when someone crouched down next to him he didn’t even flinch. If he got beaten again he wouldn’t be able to stop the other one anyway. And the pain returned when the other one touched his body, but he didn’t attack. Carefully someone lifted him up in his arms, but Taiga couldn’t see the other person through his blurry vision. He could feel the warmth of his own blood running over his face, the pain in his body through every move making him want to scream out, but the dizziness forcing him to stay silent.

“You’re such a troublemaker,” the other one was heard in a scolding voice, but while Taiga wanted to shot back at him that it wasn’t his fault there was no way he could even bring up the energy to reply.

When the other one finally started walking Taiga realized that the danger seemed indeed over, so he allowed his senses to finally give up on him, after all he had recognized the voice of the person carrying him and even though it was definitely not his favorite choice of someone coming to his rescue, especially because now he owed him something, he knew that for now all he should be was thankful and as much as his pride would stand in his way he had to thank him later for rescuing him.

***

“I’m sorry I didn’t inform you earlier, when I came back Taiga had already left.”

Those were the only words Taiga could clearly remember when they had entered the house again. Kochi’s voice made him realize where he was and soon Kentaro and at least Juri had been there as well, but he could just remember fragments from that moment. Too much shouting, too many voices and in the end he was brought to the back of the house. Maybe Kamenashi had been informed he wasn’t sure, but for the time being he seemed to be left alone with just one person, the one who had rescued him and it made him feel a bit uncomfortable as the fog in his mind slowly started to clear a bit again.

“You know pretending to be asleep won’t help me with your treatment. How about you talk to me instead, then I know at least where it hurts.”

Slowly Taiga dared to open his eyes, but soon he realized that one eye was swollen so badly that he could barely open it. He couldn’t recognize the room he was in which made him slightly panic out of a sudden, even though he knew he was definitely back at the house.

“This is my room in case you wondered. The boys were making way too much ruckus so I decided that it was better for you to rest here for now instead of your own room.”

With an almost careful look Taiga finally dared to face Taisuke directly. The latter wasn’t looking at him though. He had brought a case with some medical supplies with him, so at least he didn’t seem injured too badly or they would have definitely called Nakamaru over.

“Can you get out of your yukata yourself or do you need help?”

The question startled Taiga and instead of replying he looked back at the ceiling for a moment, but somehow Taisuke didn’t seem annoyed at all. Was he actually reading the atmosphere and understood that Taiga would need a bit longer to finally catch up with everything?

“Let me treat your head injury for now then, it’s still bleeding,” Taisuke said neutral and Taiga didn’t stop him as he brought a small pad down on the wound. His thoughts were still racing so he didn’t even bother with the few stings he felt while Taisuke took care of the injuries he could treat easily for now.

“Why were you there?” Taiga finally asked after a while, but at first Taisuke didn’t reply and kept treating his wound. “Did you just find me by coincidence?”

“Don’t you know the answer yourself already?”

How could he read him so easily? It had been a normal question and still his senpai could already tell that Taiga was indeed aware of the answer.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Taiga asked, but while he somehow wanted to sound scolding all he could hear in his own voice was fear and a weird kind of disappointment.

“What would you have done if I told you?”

Yes what would he have done? What would he have done if he had known that Taisuke had sent the customer away several times before already and made Kochi report to him as soon as he approached the house? That was why Taisuke had made him take weird breaks or took him out of the windowsill in a hurry. That was also why he had rescued him. Kochi had given it away when they had arrived back at the house. He had told Taisuke about Taiga leaving to Tegoshi’s shop as soon as the boy had heard it from Reo.

“See, that is why I didn’t tell you. Knowing that you don’t like me in the first place it could have backfired and you might have just acted like you could handle the situation just so you wouldn’t owe me anything.”

There it was. The part everyone had warned him about, not to owe Taisuke a favor and here he suddenly owed him a pretty huge favor.

“So you just rescued me to make me pay you back at some point?”

“Is that what you think?”

“I am not sure what to think to be honest,” Taiga replied a bit colder than he wanted to, but at the moment he was stuck between angry and confused so he wasn’t sure how to react.

“Well, then for now just think what you want,” Taisuke said before he prepared a bandage. “I will talk to Kamenashi later about your days off, after all there is no way you will get any customers with that bruised face. After I am done treating your injuries, take some rest.”

“Can’t I go back to my room to take a rest?” Taiga replied and tried to sit up, but let out a hiss as he tried to put his arm down on the floor.

“Right, so that Juri can kick you against that arm?”

It was actually the first time that Taiga had seen Taisuke’s expression a bit teasing and it made him stare at the other one nonstop while he bandaged his injured arm. When the older one looked up at him, Taiga looked to the ground right away, feeling caught like he always did when Taisuke stared back at him.

“Is there anything else I should treat right away?”

“No, I think it’s okay,” Taiga let out in a low voice and shifted a bit uncomfortable as he wasn’t sure if he should add something or not. Taisuke didn’t seem to notice though as he wanted to get up. Taiga looked up at him on that move, but before he could say anything he saw the change on Taisuke’s face as the latter wanted to push himself up, but suddenly pulled his arm up.

“Everything alright?”

“It’s nothing,” Taisuke added before he turned and put the remaining medical supplies away, but that was when Taiga noticed what was wrong and before he could stop his own body from moving he had grabbed the older one by the wrist on which Taisuke flinched, but didn’t pull away.

“How did that happen?” Taiga asked worried as he pulled the latter’s sleeve up, revealing his wrist. It was slightly swollen and the skin had turned violet on one side.

“Can’t you guess?”

“You got into a fight with the man?” Taiga asked shocked even though he should have guessed it.

“You should know the best that he wasn’t actually in a mood to just leave, so I had to make him leave somehow, but of course he wouldn’t just listen and walk away without causing some trouble.”

Taiga kept looking at his senpai’s arm as if he had been the one causing the injury. After a moment Taisuke pulled his wrist out of the other one’s grip and got up without another word.

“Taisuke…” Taiga said in such a low voice as if he hoped the other one wouldn’t hear him, but Taisuke stopped and turned towards him. Taiga bit his lip before he finally found the courage to speak again. “Thank you and I am sorry that you got hurt because of me.”

He hoped that he hadn’t sounded somehow mocking or in any way as if he didn’t mean it, because he indeed felt sorry and also thankful, but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t still carry some unnecessary pride which made it hard for him to say those words out loud. Luckily his senpai seemed to have noticed his struggle and he nodded with a serious expression.

“Just make sure that you rest for now.”

For a moment Taisuke halted in the doorframe. Did he want to add something? He looked over his shoulder, but then Taiga could hear a low chuckle as the older one shook his head and just slid the door closed behind him without another word.

What kind of reaction had that been? Before Taiga could get a headache he lay down back on the futon and rested as he was told. He was sure now that he actually owed Taisuke something he would have more time later to properly talk to him, not that it would stay at talking after all the stories he had heard about his senpai.


	14. Soothing the pain

It had been quite an uncomfortable night for Taiga and that not because of his injuries, but because Taisuke had come back in the evening to inform him that he would get at least three days off for now. After that the latter had prepared another futon in the room and as much as Taiga had tried to convince him that he could go back to his own room and would just make sure to sleep next to Hokuto instead of Juri or Reo his senpai refused.

It wasn’t clear to Taiga if he was really worried or if he had been told by Kamenashi to keep an eye on him for some time. The problem was that Taiga hadn’t been able to calm down at all with Taisuke next to him. He was sure that the latter wouldn’t try anything of course, but that didn’t stop him from looking over to the older one’s futon almost for the whole night. The full moon was out and he could clearly see the other one’s face even at night.

His exhaustion had forced him to fall asleep at some point nevertheless and when he woke up in the morning the latter wasn’t there anymore. He most likely had work and like this Taiga could finally relax a bit. But when it wasn’t actually fear which stopped him from falling asleep next to his senpai why had he kept staring at him like this? A question he couldn’t find an answer to at the moment.

“What if he comes back to take a look?”

“Hiromitsu just came by, so trust me he will be busy for a while.”

The voices in the corridor didn’t surprise Taiga at all. He had actually waited for them to finally show up. Carefully he sat up, watching out not to use his hurt arm before he waited for the two boys to enter.

“I am awake, you can come in,” Taiga said as he saw how Juri slid the door carefully open to take a look inside. On his words though Reo suddenly shoved Juri out of the way and hurried towards Taiga. Without saying anything he sat down next to him and pulled him into a hug.

“I am so sorry, Taiga. If I hadn’t forgotten about my duties this wouldn’t have happened!”

“Reo let go of him are you stupid?” Juri interfered almost yelling as he could see how Taiga tried not to scold the boy for actually hurting him instead of comforting him.

“Shit, sorry,” Reo apologized, now ready to cry as he pulled back and took a closer look at Taiga’s injuries. “What did he do to you? Damn it, this is all my fault.”

“Reo, calm down,” Taiga soothed him and put his hand to the latter’s face before he could actually get a break down. “Yes it hurts I won’t deny that, but if it hadn’t been yesterday, he would have maybe gotten me today or tomorrow. I heard that he came back to the house several times already and that Kochi and Taisuke made sure to send him away each time.”

“What, they knew he was actually following you around?” Juri asked with a shocked expression.

“Yes, but they did what they could do. It was just a bad timing for me to go out.”

“Bad timing? Taiga if they had told you then you would have been more careful.”

“Exactly, I wouldn’t have asked you to go if you knew,” Reo also interfered, but Taiga shook his head.

“Telling me would have just resulted in me getting scared of him coming for me. Staying inside the house the whole time? Fearing that after each next customer he could be the next? What kind of life would that have been?”

He couldn’t believe that he was actually defending Taisuke’s decision. But after their talk he had thought about it the whole night and his senpai had indeed made the right decision in not telling him. Slowly Juri and Reo also seemed to accept that and with a sigh Juri sat down next to Reo and lifted his hand carefully to Taiga’s eye, watching out that he wouldn’t hurt him with his touch.

“I will still make sure that this man won’t hurt you again.”

“I hope Taisuke made sure of that already,” Taiga let out a bit scared on the thought that he could get attacked again.

“Well, in case he didn’t we are here to send him to hell,” Reo explained with a bright smile which didn’t fit his threat at all, but Taiga chuckled nevertheless.

“Thank you, it’s good to know that I have some friends to rely on.”

“We are always here for you,” Juri assured him on which Taiga put his own hand over Juri’s and moved it down to press a light kiss on it.

Juri fell weirdly quiet on that action and slowly pulled his hand away, which made Taiga smile at him. Reo shot both a teasing look before he turned towards the door as he heard steps in the corridor.

“We should leave before Taisuke finds us here,” he said and got up, peeking out the corridor to make sure they could leave without anyone seeing them.

“Rest a bit more and we will take a look at you later again,” Juri said before he got up as well.

“I hope tonight I can finally come back to your room anyways. I just have to keep annoying Taisuke enough then he will let me go,” Taiga replied teasingly on which Juri let out a laugh.

“Be careful, he might just gag you instead of letting you go.”

“Guess when Kamenashi told him to take a look at me for some time there is no chance he will just let me go,” Taiga let out a bit disappointed.

“Ehm, Kamenashi didn’t tell him anything though?” Reo said on which Taiga blinked at him in confusion. “He just said you’d get three days off and then he will take a look at you once more if you can go back to work or not.”

That was information which would give him another sleepless night and several hours of staring at his senpai’s face to understand what he was up to.

***

On his second day off Taiga was finally allowed to go back to his own room. With his injuries getting better as well it was already easy to walk around and also use his arm a bit, even though it had been quite difficult to take a bath, but he somehow didn’t feel like asking someone for help. All his roommates and also Kentaro and Kochi had work, so he spent the whole day alone in his room.

Looking out the window for the windowsill had become a habit at least when Hokuto wasn’t in the room, because this was obviously his favorite spot as well.

It was noon time and he spotted Kochi at the veranda at the garden, taking a break. What surprised him was Hokuto joining him after a moment, handing him something to eat before he sat down next to him. It made Taiga smile to see Hokuto talk to Kochi with a bright smile while he was usually always the grumpy one, never really showing any interest in anything in particular. Exactly that mood was what awaited him the next morning when Hokuto was the only one who had off. Still he woke up quite early and when Taiga woke up he was sitting on the windowsill with a book already. His yukata was almost showing the same pattern as the sky. Two blue shades, mixed with some white, seeming like the cloudy day it was outside. The black obi seemed like the night approaching and while it was still morning outside, there were some heavy rain clouds on the horizon and it would definitely soon start raining.

With a sigh Taiga sat up, knowing that with the bad weather outside he would need to somehow kill time inside the house once more, not that he would feel confident enough to already go outside alone and he was sure that Hokuto wouldn’t want to spend him company on a random walk, especially if they could end up in a rainstorm.

“How are you feeling?”

Taiga looked up at the latter, but Hokuto kept reading even though he had asked him a question. “Fine, I guess. Most bruises will be okay by tomorrow I think and the swelling on my eye is also getting better. Not sure though if I can work with my arm like this.”

Instead of replying Hokuto suddenly put his book down and carefully placed his round glasses next to it before he went over to Taiga and sat down in front of him.

“Let me see.”

A bit hesitant Taiga stretched out his arm and Hokuto took the bandage off. When he touched the bruised and still swollen part with his fingers Taiga let out a hiss.

“Mh, seems like this one will take a few days longer. You should maybe ask Kamenashi for a few more days off.”

“Great, more boredom to deal with,” Taiga whispered and somehow he felt like he had offended Hokuto when he looked up at the latter. He bit his lip almost apologizing, not that he had said anything against Hokuto in the first place.

“Seems like you got used to this job quite fast.”

“Well, until now my customers weren’t that bad. Who knows how my opinion will change if I get a customer like the man who attacked me.” His own thoughts gave him a shiver and he suddenly felt like crawling back under his blanket, but suddenly Hokuto got up and pulled it away.

“Get dressed. You can’t lie around here the whole day.”

“But there is nothing I’ve to do, is there?” Taiga asked curiously as Hokuto somehow waited for him to move instead of leaving him alone.

“If you lie around here the whole time then definitely not.”

Which meant as much as first get up and get dressed, otherwise he would get angry. So Taiga did how he was told and while he put his futon back in the cupboard he saw how Hokuto was preparing some papers next to the table where his books were lying.

“What are you doing?” Taiga asked carefully as he sat down next to him, now dressed in his violet and white yukata.

“Making sure that you are busy for the rest of the day.”

First Taiga didn’t understand until Hokuto put some ink in front of him and gave him a Fude*₁.

“You want me to write? I don’t know how to write.”

Instead of replying to that Hokuto took a Fude as well and wrote some letters on the top of the white sheet he had unfolded in front of them.

“These are some of the regular kanjis you will need in and around the house. When you go to Tegoshi’s shop or are running orders for the house,” Hokuto explained before he pointed at the first Kanji. “This one means Obi. You will often find it together with a Kanji for the color Kamenashi wants you to get it from Tegoshi. The Kanjis next to it are for the colors black, white, blue and red.”

Because Taiga couldn’t read any of them at all he feared he would forget which was which right away, but he didn’t dare to interrupt Hokuto in his explanations.

“Look carefully, I will draw the one for obi once more and all you have to do is copy it.”

Taiga nodded and tried to remember all the movements Hokuto did, but it was indeed hard to remember which line he had drawn first and from where to where he had drawn.

“You try.”

With a nervous gulp Taiga moved his own Fude on the paper right under the last Kanji Hokuto had drawn. He remembered the first four lines clearly, but then he wasn’t sure anymore which had been the next one.

“Always remember, it’s from top to bottom and from left to right, there is no other right way to write them.”

That actually gave him the hint he needed and he succeeded to copy the kanji without getting scolded for making a mistake. But that didn’t stop Hokuto from chuckling at the outcome and Taiga formed an almost apologizing smile as he realized that what he had written seemed like a drawing by a six year old kid.

“Well, at least you understood the way you have to write it down. I will show you the others as well.”

Once more Taiga tried to remember them as good as possible, but this time Hokuto showed him four kanjis in a row and when it was Taiga’s turn he messed up at the third one, ending with Hokuto scolding him for making such a basic mistake. Two more times he had to write down the same kanjis before Hokuto nodded.

“Great, so the order of the lines doesn’t seem to be a problem anymore. Then copy them until the paper is full.”

“What? Until it’s completely full?” Taiga asked in disbelieve, because Hokuto had made sure that Taiga would write the kanjis as small as possible and with the space left he would need to write them at least two dozen times again if not even more and even though he used his unhurt arm for it he wasn’t used to the movement and he could feel how his wrist was complaining already.

Hokuto didn’t seem to feel pity for him though as he sat down on the windowsill again and put his glasses back on. “Learning by doing,” he replied before he opened his book again. “And make sure to put the sleeves of your yukata up before you proceed or you’ll definitely strain the floor with the ink.”

With a pouting expression Taiga turned back to the sheet. It wasn’t like Taiga had anything better to do and being able to read and write even a bit could be extremely helpful, but the way Hokuto made him learn the Kanjis didn’t make it a fun task. Still he felt somehow challenged and he would try his best to write them down as good as possible so that Hokuto wouldn’t make even more fun out of him later.

***

With a low curse Taiga slid the door to the bath open, carefully taking the yukata from his shoulders without making the ink spread to even more parts.

“Damnit,” Taiga hissed as he saw how much he had actually ruined his yukata and that while he had succeeded in not spilling any of the ink until he was almost done, but when he wanted to lift the paper up in the end to show it to Hokuto he hadn’t seen that the ink was standing a bit on the paper and it spilled over the lower part of his yukata.

“What happened?”

Taiga flinched on the question, because he hadn’t realized that someone was in the bath.

“Juri, what are you doing here so early?” Taiga asked back.

“I just got off a bit earlier. So what’s with all the cursing?”

Taiga turned to show him the ink on the yukata and the boy bit his lip. “Oh that’s not good. Ask Kochi later to help you with getting it clean. This happened to Hokuto before as well and Kochi helped him at that time to get the yukata clean again.”

“When it happened to him too why is he yelling at me for it?”

“Wait, this happened because of Hokuto?”

Taiga put the yukata to the side and walked to the washing place to get his skin clean which had a few strains of the ink as well. “Not exactly because of him, but he taught me a few kanji and in the end I didn’t watch out and spilled it. I didn’t know he could be that scary…”

Well, that was actually a lie, but what had happened before the ceremony was a different kind of scary and Hokuto yelling was definitely not one of his favorite moods of his.

“Wait, he seriously taught you how to write?”

“Yes, he seems to be pretty educated after all. But you guys can all write and read, can’t you?” Taiga asked when he entered the bath on which Juri backed a bit off, maybe to make some space for him, but the bath was big so there was actually no need to back off that much, but Taiga didn’t comment on it for now.

“I can read and write basics not more and that is all I was able to teach to Reo as well, because he couldn’t write or read either when he came here.”

“So why didn’t you ask Hokuto to help you?”

“We did, but he refused.”

“What? Then why did he teach me? He even said that I should continue with practicing regularly and that he would give me new kanji every few days.”

Taiga knew the meaning of Juri’s smile already, but somehow it didn’t have the same teasing as usual. Somehow it seemed a bit gloomy instead of bright. “Somehow you easily get everyone’s attention, I wonder why they are all so fond of you?”

“Well, Hokuto doesn’t even seem to like this job, so his and Taisuke’s intentions aren’t the same I think.”

“Oh don’t be so sure of that, just because Hokuto doesn’t seem so into his job it doesn’t mean that he can’t get close to people.”

For Kochi that was obviously right, but why would he even bother getting closer to Taiga? From the very beginning he had just caused trouble for him and now he was suddenly helping him with something he normally did for no one else?

A low groan from Juri made Taiga snap out of his thoughts and he looked at the younger one in slight worry as the boy rested his head on his arms on the side of the bath.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, all good.”

“Shouldn’t you maybe get out and take some rest for today?”

“I’ll get out in a bit,” Juri replied, but Taiga wasn’t satisfied with that reply, because it was obvious that Juri had been in the bath for too long anyway. Maybe he had planned on leaving when Taiga entered.

“I don’t mind if you leave first, I can also leave with you together if you want?”

“No, really it’s okay.”

This time Taiga got angry at the latter for the first time, because no it was obviously not okay, whatever was wrong with him and still he tried to not worry him. Which was weirdly exactly the same way Taiga behaved when he had something that could bother Juri.

“Tell me what is wrong.”

“Why do you think something is wrong?”

“Juri cut the crap out! You got off early from work, are still in the bath even though it’s obvious that you need to get out, so what are you hiding?”

Feeling obviously caught Juri finally gave up on lying to the older one, especially because Taiga’s tone had turned to angry and maybe now he felt a bit guilty for lying.

“It’s really not that bad, I just...didn’t want to worry you.”

“I figured that out already, but remember that this can end badly? Like Reo?”

“I am not ill though, don’t worry!” Juri added in a hurry as he feared Taiga could actually really worry way too much.

“What is it then?”

A bit hesitantly Juri finally stood up and turned around, that was when Taiga let out a gasp and jumped up immediately to take a closer look at Juri’s bruised back. That was why he had backed away at first, why he remained in the bath. He didn’t want Taiga to see what his last customer had done to him.

“I feared that after what happened to you just recently you would feel even more troubled, knowing that complicated customers are not as rare as we always hope.”

“Juri, that doesn’t matter now at all!” Taiga cut him almost harshly before he made him sit down on the edge of the bath. “This looks horrible, was he allowed to do this?”

Taiga didn’t even dare to touch the fresh bruises, because he could tell that they were hurting a lot.

“He paid the highest price and it’s not like he used anything forbidden to leave those marks.”

That comment made Taiga take an even closer look and in shock he realized that those bruises had indeed been left through nails burying in his back. Some were maybe also caused through beating, but he could clearly see the small open cuts as well now and for a moment he didn’t know what to say.

“Please don’t worry about it too much. It really isn’t as bad as it looks!” Juri said on Taiga’s silence and turned towards him. Taiga sat in front of him on the edge of the bath now while Juri took his hands in his own. “I know this kind of job can be really tough and you will have to face more hardship from here on as well, but we are all like a family here, so no matter what happens we will protect you.”

A low chuckle escaped Taiga on which Juri blinked at him in confusion. “You are the one who got hurt, you are the one which had a bad experience today and still you try to comfort me? I am not sure if you are stupid or just way too nice?”

That question made an embarrassed smile appear on Juri’s lips. “Maybe a bit of both?”

Instead of a reply Taiga squeezed the boy’s hands before he leant to the front and placed a short kiss on the latter’s forehead.

“Then let’s make sure you learn how to be a bit nicer to yourself as well, shall we?”

Juri’s smile grew even wider on that and he nodded before he stood up and pulled Taiga up gently.

“Is your arm okay?” Juri asked as he realized that it was still swollen and dark violet. But before he could examine it Taiga had suddenly hit him on the head.

“Worry for your own injuries for now, would you?”

“I am way better in worrying for you though.”

“Is that a compliment?” Taiga asked teasingly as they got ready to leave.

“You want it to be one?”

“Mh, maybe?”


End file.
